


Rather be

by Ivealwayswantedtousethatspell



Series: Songs of Life: Severitus Tales [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter Friendship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Good Severus Snape, Harry Potter Angst, Harry Potter Has a Family, Harry Potter Has a Pet Snake, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Third Year, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This While Listening To Disney Music, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Magically Powerful Harry Potter, Mental Health Issues, Minor Original Character(s), Not Canon Compliant, Original Character(s), Powerful Harry, Powerful Harry Potter, Sentient Hogwarts, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, Severus Snape Adopts Harry Potter, Severus Snape Has a Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 59,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24572644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivealwayswantedtousethatspell/pseuds/Ivealwayswantedtousethatspell
Summary: Harry's third year at Hogwarts and his second year with Severus Snape as he legal guardian, who knows what's going to happen!This is the second part of Songs of Life: Severitus Tales, the first part is ‘I don’t know you yet’ and I doubt this will make sense without reading that first.The song this work (and chapter titles) is named for is ‘Rather be’ by ‘Clean Bandit’ because why not.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: Songs of Life: Severitus Tales [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764184
Comments: 174
Kudos: 242





	1. No place I'd rather be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Harry's birthday and there are some surprises in store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have much to say, only that if you haven't read the first work in this series (i dont know you yet) this will not make sense.  
> Enjoy :)

When Harry awoke on his birthday, all he could think about was the day ahead; he was meeting his friends in Diagon Alley and then they were all coming back to Hogwarts for a mini party.

Him and Neville were having a joint celebration, as their birthdays were only a day apart, and they had the same friends.

The last two weeks had been pure bliss for Harry, he hadn’t been able to meet up with his friends up until that day, but he had spent lots of time with Severus as well as his godfather and Remus.

On top of that, he had got all his summer homework done, which meant that he wouldn’t have it hanging over him and he could also start reading the content for the next year.

Every day, he had been practicing the spells he already knew, and Severus had even taught him a few more, including the Trip Jinx, the Stinging Hex, Reducto and Accio, among others.

After lying in bed for a few minutes, staring at the galaxy above his head, he checked the time; it was eight thirty and he was meeting his friends in the Leaky Cauldron at eleven.

Hopping out of bed, he jumped in the shower, then pulled on a pair of black jeans and a green t-shirt that had a Hungarian Horntail roaring on the front of it.

Once he was ready, he pulled open the door and walked into the kitchen. Severus was already in there, cradling a cup of coffee, and at the sound of the door he looked up.

“Happy birthday, Harry.”

“Thanks, Sev!” He replied, grabbing himself a few pieces of toast, “Are you coming with me to Diagon Alley?”

“I think so yes, I need to get some supplies anyway.”

Harry just nodded as he spread jam on his toast, then perched on one of the dark wood chairs. They ate in a content silence, as Severus didn’t fare well with conversations that early in the morning, and Harry was quite happy to just sit, as he found his mind to be a very interesting place.

When he had finished eating, he got himself a cup of tea and, sitting down with it, asked, “How are we getting to Diagon Alley?”

“We can floo to the Leaky Cauldron. What time are you meeting your friends?”

“Eleven, so two hours.”

“And what are you going to do for the next two hours?”

Harry thought for a moment, “I’m not sure, do you have any plans?”

“Not for me, but I do for you.” Severus waved his wand and a scroll zoomed into his hand from the next room, which he then pushed across the table to Harry, with a smile.

“What’s this?” Harry frowned.

“It’s your birthday present. Open it and you’ll find out.” The Potions Master rolled his eyes.

Harry looked up at him in shock, “You got me a birthday present? You didn’t have to do that.”

Severus frowned, “I did, Harry. But not only that, I wanted to.”

“Sorry, I just not really used to it. I never had birthday presents before.” Harry murmured.

“Never?” asked Severus, astounded.

“Well, Hagrid gave me a cake for my eleventh birthday, when he came to give me my Hogwarts letter.” Harry frowned, “But that’s the only one I’ve had.”

“What about last year?”

Harry fidgeted uncomfortably, “I didn’t get any post at all last summer. It couldn’t be delivered to my cupboard I guess.”

Not for the first time, and probably not for the last, the Potions Master felt a wave of murderous intent wash over him, as well as a wave deep rooted anger at the Dursleys. Seeing how uncomfortable Harry was, he changed the subject.

“Are you going to open it then?”

He watched as his charge pulled the ribbon from around the scroll and unfurled it, Harry read:

****

**_Dear Headmaster Albus Dumbledore,_ **

****

**_The board of governors has discussed the idea of having a space_ **

**_Where all four houses can meet together within the castle,_ **

**_And we think it is excellent._ **

**_Our only stipulation is that the students know what the area is for,_ **

**_So that they do not misuse or take advantage of it._ **

****

**_This is our formal consent to the proposal,_ **

**_And we will leave the design of the room in your capable hands._ **

****

**_Signed; Lady regent Longbottom,_ **

**_Chairwomen of the board of governors_ **

****

When he had finished reading the letter, Harry looked up at his guardian in shock.

“What did you do?” He asked, bewildered.

Once Severus had finished smirking at his charge’s expression, he answered, “You mentioned a little while ago how your Ravenclaw friend had no friends in her house but that there was no-one sensible you could meet her, especially in the winter.”

“You remembered that?” Harry interrupted, “That was a comment I made months ago.”

“Yes, I asked Dumbledore back when you first mentioned it and he promised to ask the board of governors. They wrote back last week. So, this is your birthday present.”

There was silence for a moment before Harry threw himself across the room to give his guardian I hug, “Thank you.” He whispered sincerely.

“So, do you want to see the room?”

Excitement bloomed across the boy’s face, “Yes, please!”

“Very well, go and get your shoes.”

When he came back a few minutes later, Severus was wearing muggle clothing in the form of black jeans and a black leather jacket over a green t-shirt and brown boots. For Harry, the weirdest part of living with the Potions Master was when he dressed in muggle clothing, as he was so used to seeing him in his black robes.

After Harry pulled on his trainers, they left (saying goodbye to Paeon on the way of course) and Severus led him to a new door near the Great Hall. He opened it and motioned Harry through.

The room was about ten metres by eight metres, but it was completely empty with plain concrete walls and floor.

Harry turned to his guardian excitedly, “When is it being decorated?”

“Right now.” Smirked Severus.

“ _Now?”_

“Yes, Dumbledore asked me to tell you that his birthday present fot you is letting you decorate this room.”

“ _Me?_ Really?”

“Yes, Harry, you. I wouldn’t tell you something like that as a joke.”

“Awesome! I’ll have to remember to thank Professor Dumbledore later.”

“He’s coming to your little party this afternoon, so you can thank him them.” Said Severus, taking a magazine out of his pocket and enlarging it, “Now, what colour do you think the walls and carpet should be?”

“Well, I think we need to stay away from any of the house colours, because the whole point is that the area is house ambiguous.”

Harry bit lip considering his options, “How about grey, cream and maroon?”

“Interesting combination, do you have a future in interior design?” Severus joked.

Smiling, Harry replied, “Maybe. Ok, so smoky grey carpet, cream walls, I think.”

As he said it the walls turned cream while the floor seemed to grow like grass into a carpet and change colour at lightning speed.

“I think we should have a few nests of charcoal grey and maroon beanbags around the room. And one of those big glass tables with grey, cream and maroon chairs around it. Then in the rest of the space we can have a few clusters of bucket chairs; cream with maroon cushions.”

Trying to keep up with everything that he was suggesting, Severus flicked through the magazine as rapidly as he could, while Harry grinned at the House-elves appearing every few seconds with a new item and a wave before disappearing again.

When it was all in place, Severus turned to the boy, “Is that what you were thinking of?”

“It’s perfect!” Harry exclaimed, but then he added, “Maybe there is one thing. There’s a muggle game, called table tennis, you have a low net and small bats that you hit a little ball with. It takes between two and four people. Do you think we could get hold of it?”

“Mm, I don’t see why not.” Murmured Severus, checking the time. “You go back to our quarters and I’ll have a word with Dumbledore. I’ll meet you back there in half an hour and then we can leave for Diagon Alley.”

Harry nodded and took off, grinning at the fact that his guardian had said ‘our quarters’ not ‘my quarters’.

* * *

Stepping out of the fireplace into the Leaky Cauldron’s dimly lit floo room, Harry immediately saw Hermione waiting for him. He smiled and walked forward to give her a hug.

“Happy Birthday, Harry!” she cried, hugging him back.

“Thanks, Hermione.” He replied as he stepped backwards again.

The floo flared and Severus stepped out, he gave Hermione a nod and something that might even have been a small smile before stepping off to the side.

Curiously, Harry watched as Hermione pulled out a package from her bag, it was rectangular and beautifully wrapped in colourful muggle paper; definitely a book.

“Here, open this.”

Carefully, he took the present out of her hands and unwrapped it, to reveal a small, blue book with the title:

**_Duelling: everything beginners need to know_ **

****

Harry looked at the book in shock, he hadn’t realised his friend had payed so much attention to the extra spells he was learning.

“Thank you, Hermione!” He exclaimed, pulling her into another quick hug, “This is perfect!”

“Your welcome. I thought you would find it useful and interesting.”

“Yeah, it’s great! Severus said I would be able to start duelling soon.”

The two smiled at each other but before either could say anything the floo flared again and two red heads popped out, greeting Harry with a wave and a chorus of “Happy Birthday!”

“Hey guys, thanks.” He grinned.

They walked forward and Ron held out the box he was carrying to Harry, who accepted it and ripped off the wrappings to find the biggest box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans he had ever seen. He patted Ron on the arm in thanks and his friend grinned back at him sheepishly.

“The twins gave me a hand with buying it.”

“That’s awesome Ron, thank you.”

Next Ginny held out her gift, it looked very similar to Hermione’s, but it was wrapped in silver paper. He accepted it with a smile and tore off the wrappings to reveal a book with a red cover that was by the same author as the book from Hermione. The title read:

**_Uncommon and unusual Hexes_ **

“This looks amazing, Ginny, thank you! Now I’m just going to have to find someone to test them out on.” He gave her a wink as he subtly motioned to Ron, who was eyeing Severus warily.

Ginny laughed and opened her mouth to suggest a good hex to start with, but before she could speak Luna and Neville appeared with the floo together.

They both had slightly dreamy looks on their faces as they said happy birthday to him.

“Thanks guys.” Harry replied, slightly taken aback at the oddly shaped flower Neville was holding out to him, “What’s this?”

“A Gloriosa Superba, more commonly known as a Flame Lily, because the petals look like flames. Gloriosa are muggle plants, native to the tropical parts of Africa and Asia but we’ve put a charm on it to keep it warm, so you’ll just have to do sunlight charms every month or so, I’ll show you how.”

Here Luna interrupted with her usual dreamy voice, “What Neville means is, this is your birthday present from the two of us.”

Neville blushed bright red as Harry let out a chuckle, “It’s beautiful guys, thank you.” Then he added, “Sev, do you think you could send these to my room for me please? I don’t want to be carrying them around all day. And do you think you could please pass me Neville’s present, as well?”

The Potions Master nodded and waved his wand, then pulled a small plant with slightly fuzzy leaves out from his robes and handed it to Harry, who gave it to Neville with a smile.

“A Origanum Dictamens?” his friend breathed in shock.

“I don’t know the Latin for it, Nev.” Harry laughed, “I just know its Dittany, which is a rare plant it would be good for you to have in your collection.”

At his words, Hermione, Ron and Ginny looked up from their conversation in awe, Hermione looked especially exited.

“Wow, Harry. Where did you get that?” she asked.

“Severus helped me.” Harry admitted.

“It’s amazing, Harry, thank you so much!”

“No problem mate, happy birthday. Now, shall we go?” they all nodded and walked out the pub towards Diagon Alley.

Harry waved goodbye to his guardian, who called, “Remember, you only have so much money to spend, I’ll meet you back here at one for some lunch!”

* * *

An hour and a half later, and the group had been in most of the shops in Diagon Alley, including spending quite of a lot of time in both Quality Quidditch Supplies (admiring the new Firebolt broom) and Flourish and Blotts (Harry and Hermione had to be practically dragged away).

It was nearly time to go back to the Leaky Cauldron, but there was one more place Harry wanted to visit; Magical Menagerie, as he realised, he had never actually been in there before.

As they entered, Harry was hit by how cramped the shop seemed, because every available space held a cage or tank of some kind.

Ginny and Hermione had their attention on the Kneazles and Pigmy Puffs, while Neville and Luna looked at Firewater Geckos and Ron actively avoided looking at the rats who were showing off in their cage.

There were different noises coming from each cage, but Harry was immediately draw to the hissing voices that he could hear from the next room. He made his way, with Ron following behind him, past the counter and towards the back of the shop.

“Excuse m’dear.” Called the harassed looked witch who was looking after the shop, “Ya can’t go back there.”

“Why not?” Harry asked surprised, “I would like to look at the snakes.”

“How d’ya know there’s snakes back there?” asked the dumbfounded witch.

“I can hear them.” He explained patiently.

“Oh. Well I’ll have ta call me husband to go back there with ya, some of them snakes is not safe.” She turned as called over her shoulder, “Stan, love. There’s a man ‘ere who wants ta look a’ the snakes.”

An older wizard appeared through the doorway and eyes the two boys warily, “At the snakes you say? You’re being serious, not just messin’ around, aren’t you lads? Snakes are serious business, they are, we have a few rare ones back here.”

“Yes, Sir.” Replied Harry, “I like snakes, I respect them.”

The wizard considered him for a moment before nodding and leading them though a door. They were met by the sight of about twenty tanks, all of different sizes, all holding different snakes, most of whom appeared to be asleep.

“ _Hello beautiful and noble snakes, how are you all today_?” he asked, not to any tank in particular.

Most of the snakes shot their heads up to look at him, but he wasn’t sure if that was because he talked to them or because the older wizard had tripped over in shock.

Between them, Harry and Ron helped the man up and led him to a chair where he could catch his breath.

“You… You can talk to Snakes?” he almost whispered.

“Yeah.” Replied Harry, “But I’m sure lots of people can do it.”

Ron was shocked as well, but he managed to say, “No, Harry. Being a Parselmouth isn’t very common at all, I doubt there is a single other person at Hogwarts who can speak Parseltongue.”

Now it was Harry’s turn to be shocked, “Really?”

“Yeah, mate. This is really special; the kind of thing Hermione would immediately rush to the library to research.” Ron rolled his eyes and Harry chuckled.

He turned to the older wizard, “It’s alright if I just look around and talk to them, isn’t it?” The man just nodded.

Starting at one end, he began to walk around all the snakes introducing himself to each and inquiring its species, name and health. He had got about halfway around the room when he realised Ron had left, but he carried on anyway.

He was just about to introduce himself to the last snake, a pretty little thing, about fifty centimetres in length, with beautiful eyes and iridescent scales that were the same shade of piercing navy blue, when Ron came back into the room, joined by the rest of their friends.

“Is it true?” Asked Hermione breathlessly, “Ron says you can talk to snakes!”

“Yeah Hermione, I can talk to snakes. I didn’t realise it was uncommon until Ron told me.”

“Uncommon?!” Shrieked Hermione as quietly as she could to not disturb the snakes, “Uncommon is a bit of an understatement, Harry. There’s only about ten people in the world today who can talk to snakes!”

“Calm down.” Soothed Harry, “I didn’t keep it from you guys on purpose, it just never came up. Anyway, I just want to introduce myself to this last snake and then we can go.”

The older wizard said there were too many people in the room, so Ron ushered the others out while Harry and Hermione stayed for a little while longer.

“ _Hello, beautiful one. Do you have a name?”_

 _“Yes, speaker. My name is Elpis. Do you have a name?”_ replied the tiny snake.

_“I do, my name is Harry Potter. Elpis is a beautiful name, who named you?”_

_“I was born with this name; a name I can tell it only to those I can to bond to.”_

Harry was surprised, _“Does this mean you want to bond to me?”_

_“Yes, you are the one I am to be bonded with. I will be your familiar.”_

He thought for a moment, he had never considered getting a snake before.

Turning to the shop keeper he asked, “Is this pretty blue snake for sale and how much does she cost?”

The man gave a laugh, “Technically she’s for sale, but I doubt you will be buying her today laddie. She’s an Alysisian.”

At those words, Hermione – who had been looking at a corn snake on the other side of the room – hurried over, “An Alysisian? Really? Where?” She breathed.

Harry was confused, “I’m sorry, what’s an Alysisian, and why does that mean I can’t by her?”

“Honestly Harry, don’t you read? Alysisians are category A light creatures, the only other animals in category A are Unicorns and Phoenixes!”

“Wait, what does category A light creature mean?”

“It means they can only be owned by the purest and lightest wizards.” Hermione answered, a little exasperatedly, “The only person known to have a familiar of a creature this light is Dumbledore!”

“Wow! In that case I guess I am buying her!” he decided allowed.

The shop keeper spoke again with a chuckle, “Laddie, I don’t think you understand, humans don’t pick creatures like these, the animals pick who they want to be bond with. You will know because you will know their name.”

Trying to keep the smile off his face Harry answered, “Well what if I tell you that her name is Elpis and she wants to bond to me?”

Both the shop keeper and Hermione frozen in shock.

“She wants to bond to you?” the old wizard whispered, “She’s been in this shop for ten years and she has never wanted to bond to anyone. She doesn’t come cheap though, I’m afraid. Seventy-five ~~G~~ ” ~~~~

Harry gulped, that was a lot of money, he certainly didn’t have that much gold with him.

“I’d better ask Severus to come. But I can’t send him a note because I can’t use magic, do you think you could fetch him please Hermione?”

He watched gratefully as his friend sped off before turning back to the shop keeper, “So, what else do I need to know about Alysisians?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are!  
> What do you'll think of the snake?  
> Full credit for the concept of an Alysisian goes to Kendra James, the concept is him her work 'Recovery' (unfinished) on fanfiction.net  
> I just thought it was so cute I had to include it :)  
> Also, I highly recommend that you look up a Flame Lily, because they're really cool!  
> Let me know all your thoughts.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	2. No place I'd rather be [P2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second half of Harry's birthday. He has a party and finds out if he is Animagus compatible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well guys, I'm back after having a few days off.  
> Just another reminder that I'm not keeping to canon when it comes to how you become and Animagus.  
> 'Anima animalis' means soul animal and 'Animalis transformatio' is animal transformation in case you were wondering.  
> You'll be glad to know that my chapters are getting steadily longer.  
> Enjoy :)

“So, what else do I need to know about Alysisians?” Harry asked the shop keeper.

“Well, they have some magical abilities; they have limited healing powers and can make themselves invisible to all those who are not bonded to them. They are extremely venomous but aren’t known to bite and their venom is extremely valuable and powerful, although the full capabilities are unknown as they are very rare animals.” Answered the older wizard, then he added, “Oh and they can teleport.”

“Teleport?”

“Yes, like apparition.”

(“ _There is much I can do that humans do not know, it seems.”)_

“Awesome, why is she still here if she can teleport?”

“There’s an anti-teleportation charm on her tank.”

(“ _It’s warm in here_.” Added the snake.)

Harry raised his eyebrows, “So, if I am able to take her, what happens then?”

“We will have to contact someone to come from the Magical Creatures division of the Ministry. We aren’t allowed to sell creatures like these to random people.”

Just then, Severus appeared in the doorway, looking a little breathless, “What’s going on?!” he asked, in concern.

(“ _Ooh look how worried he is! As if he was your birth dad!”)_

“What has Hermione told you?” Harry asked, calmly.

“Something about an Alysisian. I assumed you’d been bitten - but you obviously haven’t – so what’s going on, Harry?” he looked a less concerned and stern now, as he stood with small frown on his face.

“This Alysisian wants to bond to me.”

“ _I think it will be you bonding to me, Little One_.”

“ _Who are you calling ‘Little One’?”_ snorted Harry.

_“You, Little One. It fits you. You’re small but you carry a mighty burden.”_

Harry just raised his eyebrows and waited for Severus to get over the shock.

“Please tell me you’re not joking, Harry?” asked Severus, seriously, “You do understand what that is don’t you?”

“Yes, Sev. Both this nice man here - I’m sorry I never did get your name – and Hermione have been filling me in. The only problem is that she costs a lot of money, I think she’s worth it.”

The Potions Master crossed his arms, “Just how much are we talking about here?”

“Seventy-five ~~G~~.” asked Harry, wincing slightly.

Severus’s eyebrows shot up, “I can’t afford that, Harry.”

(“ _But I’m worth every Knut._ ”)

“I know you can’t, Sev, and I understand that it’s a lot of money. But I have the money and I think it’s worth it!”

He studied his charge’s pleading expression for a moment, “Very well.” he sighed, “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

 _(“Excuse me, this is rarer than once in a lifetime.”_ huffed Elpis.)

Severus’s eyes grew large as Harry reached for him and squeezed him tight.

(“ _I hope you never hug me like that_.”)

Harry laughed and let go, turning back to the shop keeper, “Do you think you’ll be able to get that Ministry worker here anytime soon?”

“I think so. It’s not every day an Alysisian wants to bond to someone.” His eyes twinkled, “I suspect that there be fighting over who gets to come.” With that he disappeared, presumably to get hold of the Ministry.

“Here, Sev, I’ll introduce you. This is Elpis.” He motioned to the pretty blue snake who did a sort of bow. “ _And this is Severus Snape, my legal guardian. We live at Hogwarts together_.”

“Wow, she’s beautiful.”

_(“He has good taste, I like him.”)_

Harry snorted, “Yeah she is.”

Severus looked at him questioningly but before he could tell him what Elpis had said, the door opened and the shop keeper came through, this time accompanied by a lady with light brown hair and lavender robes who had a thrilled expression on her face.

“You’re the Parselmouth the Alysisian has chosen to bond with?” She asked animatedly.

“Yes, I’m Harry. And this is Elpis. Oh, and my guardian, Severus Snape.”

“Nice to meet you. I am Laura Hicks; I work in the Magical Creatures division of the Ministry.” She nodded at Severus, before turning back to Harry, “I have to perform a check that lets me know if Elpis here truly wants to bond with you. Please can I have your full name?”

“Harry James Potter.” Both the Ministry worker and shop keeper recoiled, and Harry inwardly cringed.

“The Harry Potter?”

(“ _Are you famous, Little One_?”)

He sighed, “I guess, yeah.”

Laura shook herself, “My apologies, that was unprofessional.”

Harry give her a small, grateful smile and waited for her to continue.

“So, Elpis.” She turned to the small snake, “Do you wish to bond with Harry James Potter?”

The snake nodded, “ _Can you please get on with it, woman.”_

Harry chuckled, “Is there anything else?”

“Just one thing.” She waved her wand to remove the anti-teleportation charm and Elpis immediately vanished in a small flash of light.

“Oh.” Harry was disappointed, “Where did she go?”

“ _I’m down here, Little One_.” Came a hiss from his pocket.

He laughed again, “ _Comfy in there_?”

“ _Quite. This will make a good home.”_

“Now that we have determined that Elpis, does in fact want to bond to you, Harry, there are some things I need to go through with you. Is there a good place for us to do that?”

Harry looked up at his guardian, “Well, I’m actually here with my friends as part of a birthday treat and we were just about to go and have some lunch. But you are welcome to join us for a while.”

An hour later and Laura Hicks left the Leaky Cauldron, having explained everything to Harry and making sure Elpis was happy. They spent the next few hours sat around, laughing, chatting and marveling about how Harry always seemed to be able to find a way to make himself stand out.

Eventually, it was time to head back to Hogwarts, so they all flooed through and stood in a group in the Entrance Hall.

_(“This looks like a nice place to live”)_

“Are we going to the Great Hall, Harry?” asked Neville.

“No, I actually have a surprise for you all.” He started to lead them towards the new room, “A little while ago, I mentioned to Sev how we don’t have any sensible places we can go together, because of Luna being a Ravenclaw. And he suggested to Dumbledore, without telling me, that the school should have a room like that. They let me design it as my birthday present, so here it is!”

He flung open the door and they all filed in, gaping in shock. Even Harry was surprised, but that was because of the sheer number of people in the room; half the teaching staff was there, as well as quite a number of the Weasley’s and Dean and Seamus from their dormitory as well as Neville’s gran.

He hadn’t expected so many people to turn up.

(“ _My, my that’s a lot of people_.”)

Once everyone was in the room, there was a chorus of, “Happy Birthday, Neville and Harry!” But the two of them just stood dumfounded until Molly Weasley stepped forward.

“Now, my dears. We’re having a buffet in about half an hour, in the meantime, I think Harry should open a few of his presents.”

Harry was still in shock, more presents? He had already been given so much that day.

“ _I think you are supposed to move_.” hissed Elpis from his pocket, shaking him out of his trance.

He pulled up a bean bag while everyone gathered around, on chairs and on the floor, chattering. For the next half an hour, he was handed a steady stream of presents from everyone in the room.

His roommates gave him Honeydukes and Zonkos products, while Mrs Weasley gave him a huge fruit cake and most of the professors gave him books of some form or another, on all kinds of interesting subjects.

Finally, Sirius pulled out his package and pushed it towards Harry, with a sheepish grin on his face.

“Padfoot, what did you do?” he demanded.

(“ _Probably something stupid.”)_

Sirius declined to answer, instead just gesturing that he should unwrap the gift. The paper came away easily to reveal the brand new Firebolt broom.

He just stared at it while his godfather patted him on the shoulder, “This, Pronglet, is eleven year’s worth of birthday and Christmas presents!”

“Pads, this is amazing, but I already have a broom – a really good broom.”

His godfather faltered for a second, “But, I thought you’d like it.”

“I do! It’s amazing, my godfather bought be the best broom in existence.” Suddenly, a perfect idea formed in Harry’s mind, there was a way he could accept the Firebolt without making anyone mad (Ron and Ginny were looking especially jealous).

Quickly he stood up and gave Sirius a hug, “Thank you Padfoot, this is truly amazing! I can’t wait to try it out.”

Sirius opened to mouth to say something, but Remus interrupted, “No Pads, he is not trying it out now.”

Everyone chuckled and the tension that had been hanging in the air dissipated.

“ _Do you fly Little One_?” asked Elpis.

“ _With this broom, yes_.” Replied Harry.

There was a second pause then Elpis spoke again, “ _Little One, you haven’t told these humans about me yet_.”

He glanced up at the group gathered around him and mentally swore at the amount of shocked faces around him.

“Urm… I got a snake?” he volunteered.

Sirius seemed to be the first one to recover, “Harry, first of all, when did you get a _snake_? And second of all, when were you going to tell us you could _talk_ to snakes?” he asked in a mixture of shock at hurt.

“I have known since just before I came to Hogwarts, but I didn’t know it was anything special until today. I didn’t hide it on purpose, it just never came up. I got her today, she wanted to bond to me.”

“Bond to you?” asked Remus, “As in, a familiar bond?”

“Next you’ll be telling us an Alysisian wanted to bond with you.” laughed Sirius.

Harry just looked up at him sheepishly as his godfather’s expression changed to one of disbelief.

“Guys, meet Elpis.” He pulled the beautiful snake out of her pocket and she wound around his wrist, forked tongue flicking.

“ _I think you are going to have to explain more, Little One_.” Hissed Elpis, “ _That one looks like she is about to explode.”_ She motioned to Mrs Weasley; whose face was nearly the same colour as her hair.

The group that had gone to Diagon Alley together started to chuckle at the expressions on the other’s faces - even Severus had to crack a smile – they all seemed to be frozen in shock.

Eventually, Dumbledore sprung into action, “Fawkes!” he called and a second later, the phoenix appeared in a flash of flame, landing on the Headmasters outstretched arm.

“If I may?” He asked the snake, “Fawkes, meet Elpis. Elpis, Fawkes.”

With a small flash of light, the snake disappeared from Harry’s wrist, and reappeared on Dumbledore’s, right next to where the Phoenix was perching.

At this point, Harry started to get confused, as he was trying to listen to two conversations at once. The Headmaster was talking about how he had once met a snakelet Alysisian, around ten years ago while Harry simultaneously listen to conversation between Elpis and Fawkes.

 _“Hello, old friend. Good to see you again, is the Beardy One treating you well_?”

Harry couldn’t understand the Phoenix’s reply, as it was mostly soft squawks and feather ruffling, but he guessed what it meant.

“Urm, Sir?” he asked Harry, “I think that Elpis may well have been that snakelet, he seems to know Fawkes already.”

“Really, my boy?” Dumbledore sounded delighted, “How extraordinary!”

Suddenly, the conversation was brought to an abrupt halt as the House-elves appeared with the food.

This didn’t stop the steady stream of questions about his Parseltongue abilities or about the latest addition to his slowly growling family, but for once Harry didn’t mind the questions so much, as most were focused on Elpis rather than him (she rather liked the attention).

It was an enjoyable evening filled with mostly chatting, food and the odd game of table tennis (Dumbledore had managed to get his hands on a set pretty quickly).

Mrs Weasley had made two cakes for the two boys - one in the shape of a golden snitch, and one in the shape of a leaping toadstool – and everyone sung happy birthday to them before heading off for the night.

Soon, it was only Severus, Remus and Sirius left (as well as Elpis of course) and they all collapsed onto bean bags in one corner of the room. Out of the four of them, Sirius was he most social and even he was exhausted.

Despite his exhaustion, Harry was filled with excitement; he knew the moment he had been waiting a month for was finally here.

“So, Pronglet.” Sirius grinned, “Are you ready to find out if you are Animagus compatible?”

“Yes!” exclaimed Harry, also grinning.

“ _I wonder what you will be, you could turn into a snake like me_.” Elpis mused as Sirius prepared to do the spell.

“ _That would be quite cool.”_ Harry agreed, “ _But I don’t think I’m going to be a snake, that doesn’t feel right to me.”_

_“No, I’m not sure a snake would fit either, Little One. You’re too timid for that.”_

_“Thanks!”_ laughed Harry

“ _Then again, you are misunderstood, like us snakes_.”

“Ok, are we ready?” Sirius asked. Harry nodded enthusiastically but Severus looked slightly worried.

“Don’t worry, this won’t hurt or anything.” Added his godfather, “All that will happen, is that a silvery animal will appear, like a not quite formed Patronus.”

This seemed to relax Harry’s guardian a little more, so Sirius pointed his wand at Harry and muttered, “Anima animalis.”

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but just before Harry gave up hope, a silvery mist appeared, forming the shape of a small, indistinct bird.

“Looks like a Robin.” commented Remus as the form disappeared.

“Or some kind of Tit.” added Severus.

Harry considered it for a moment, “I think it fits.”

The others paused in thought for a moment before agreeing.

“So Padfoot, what do I need to do to become an Animagus?”

“Well, it’s quite a simple premise, you just have to cast a spell on yourself.” Explained Sirius, “The hard part is that you have to picture your whole self, your true self. You can’t leave anything out, you need to consider all the aspects. You have to meditate about yourself.”

“Okay.” Murmured Harry, “and what do I have to say?”

“Animalis transformatio. But I would advise just concentrating on the meditation for at least two weeks. It took me two months in total, your dad and I managed it on the same day.”

(“ _Wow, that is consider me impressed.”)_

“Awesome. If you guys don’t mind, I’m going to head to bed. It’s been a tiring day.”

“That’s fine Harry, but can I ask that you don’t attempt your transformation outside of out quarters, just in case something happens.” Said Severus.

_(“He does worry a lot, doesn’t he? It’s kind of sweet.”)_

“Sure Sev. Thank you for an amazing birthday, all of you. And thanks for letting me have Elpis.”

(“ _I would have found a way of being with you anyway, Little One.)_

He gave each man a quick hug, then left the room with a final thank you and a wave. Elpis started teleporting around Harry’s body, first winding around his hair, then twisting around his ankle, then snuggling in his armpit, before settling down around his neck.

 _“Comfy_?” asked Harry dryly.

 _“Quite_.” Hissed the snake with a sort of chuckle.

_“So, what do you think of my odd, makeshift family?”_

“ _Interesting. A room full of people with awful childhoods_.”

“ _What do you mean_?”

“ _A Werewolf for starters. That’s not an easy life, and that potion he spoke of - Wolfsbane was it? – wasn’t around then. Then that hook nosed one and the goofy one, I suspect they had similar childhoods, but they cope in very different ways. Then there’s you, only someone who has known true suffering can have a soul as pure as yours_.”

Harry didn’t answer, he was trying to process what was Elpis had said.

“ _They clearly love you, they would all die for you_.” Added the snake.

“ _I don’t want them to die for me, I don’t want anyone to die for me.”_ Harry spat.

“ _Which makes you all the purer.”_ She added calmly

He turned down the final corridor in confused silence, but when they reached the door, Harry introduced Elpis (who seemed to be the natural leader in terms of snake hierarchy) to Paeon, who was delighted at the idea of him guarding the door to the home of an Alysisian.

When they walked into Harry’s bedroom, they saw that the elves had already set up a home for Elpis, it was a glass tank, set into the wall with plenty of wood, greenery and hiding spots. Of course, Elpis would be spending most of her time with Harry, but whenever they weren’t together, this was going to be perfect for her.

She teleported into the tank and had a look around, then proceeded to explore all the rooms the same way while Harry got ready for bed. After a few minutes she appeared on his head.

“Do you always stay here?” she asked.

“No. I stay here during the summer holidays and Saturday nights mostly. The rest of the time I spend in Gryffindor tower.” Answered Harry as he settled into bed to begin his meditations.

Elpis coiled up on his gently moving stomach and listened to his breathing as it quietened, and he fell into sleep. Once she was sure he was soundly asleep, she carefully made her way down to his bare ankle.

With a silent apology, she opened her mouth wide and plunged her venom filled fangs into the flesh before her, then teleported into her tank and curled up in a tree, invisible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger.  
> It was just a good place to stop.  
> I hope you like Elpis!  
> I'd just like to point out that I have created a difference between a familiar and a pet.  
> Elpis is Harry's familiar, while Hedwig is his pet.  
> Let me know your thoughts.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	3. No place I'd rather be [P3]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's recovery and some cool Animagus stuff!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only thing i have to say is that telepathic speach is in bold italics.  
> Enjoy :)

Half an hour later, Severus knocked, then pocked his head around, Harry’s door. He looked at the sleeping boy for a second, then made to leave, but suddenly noticed the irregular jerky movements of the boy’s breathing.

Thinking Harry was having a nightmare, he moved towards the bed and shook him gently, but the boy did not even stir. He moved his hand to the Harry’s forehead, only to find that the skin beneath his hand was burning up.

Quickly, Severus lifted the one of the boy’s eyelids; he swore when he saw that the eye was bloodshot and glassy. He looked all over the boy’s body until he reached the puncture marks on Harry’s ankle - swearing again, he summoned a few potions and antivenoms before sending a Patronus to Remus, alerting him of the situation.

From her tree, Elpis watched the man with interest, he had figured out what she had done pretty quickly.

Knowing the hook-nosed man would be able to figure out how to save her new master and that she would probably be killed on sight before she had a chance to explain, Elpis coiled up and fell asleep, waiting for the time her master woke up.

Meanwhile Severus was frantic, he knew that Harry should be dead by now. According to the books he had read, Alysisian venom only took about five minutes to kill someone, but Harry seemed less than five minutes away from death.

In fact, as soon as the Potions Master tried the anti-venom that he thought was the closest to being correct (an Alysisian anti-venom had not yet been created) Harry seemed to immediately improve, which he found very puzzling.

When Remus Lupin arrived not five minutes later, Severus had wiped Harry’s brow of sweat with a cold cloth and the heat of the skin had greatly decreased.

The three men (Remus insisted on contacting Sirius) took it in turns to keep watch over Harry for the remainder of the night and by six in the morning, he seemed to be recovered, although he had not yet woken up.

Elpis awoke to the sound of a hushed conversation.

“Do you have any idea what happened, Snape?”

“I told you, Black, it must have been that dratted snake.”

“I still don’t understand why she would bite him.” mused Remus.

“Maybe he just kicked her in the night, and it was an automatic response.” Suggested Sirius.

“I doubt it. If it had been accidental, I think he would have been dead before we found him. The anti-venom I used worked perfectly, despite it not being designed for Alysisian venom. This is more likely to be some form of bonding ritual.”

Smart man, thought the snake to herself. He’s got a working brain, unlike most humans.

“Nearly killing her owner is part of a bonding ritual?” growled Sirius, “Where is she? I’ll kill her myself.”

“Padfoot sit down. She probably hiding so we don’t do just that. There’s got to be a reasonable explanation as to why she would make Harry go through that. Will it increase the bond do you think?”

Before anyone could answer, the boy on the bed stirred, then jumped at the sight of the three men surrounding his bed. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, wincing at the pounding in his head.

“Hey guys, what’s going on?”

The three men looked at each other, debating who should answer, while they were deciding, Elpis answered.

**_I bit you, I had to so I could bond with you better. I’m not letting them see me, because I couldn’t explain to them and they would have killed me if I appeared before now. You need to explain before I let them see me._ **

Harry nodded and the snake slithered towards his hand, as soon as she touched bare skin the pounding in his head lessoned to a dull throb. Now he could see properly, he noticed that Elpis had a fuzzy blue haze around her.

**_It’s part of my camouflage, if there is a haze around me it means no-one else can see me._ **

He was surprise that Elpis seemed to know what he had been thinking, once again, she seemed to read his thoughts.

_**Little One, I am not speaking. We can communicate telepathically now that we are bonded.** _

_**Awesome,**_ thought Harry, _ **you mean you can understand me right now?**_

**_Yes, Little One, I can. Now I think you should explain to them._ **

All this time, the three men had been in a silent argument. In the end Remus was picked to explain, as they all seemed to agree that he was the most rational.

“Harry…” he began.

“It’s okay, Moony.” interrupted Harry, “Elpis explained it to me.”

“How?” blurted Sirius, “You haven’t said anything since you woke up.”

“I know, isn’t it amazing! We can communicate telepathically now!”

Each of the men’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Telepathic communication? What else can she do now?” asked Severus.

“I’m not sure, I’ll ask her. _Elpis_?”

**_I can teleport straight to you even if I don’t know where you are, and I can come to the call of my name no matter how far away I am. I can also heal you a lot more easily – which why I was able to ease your headache - and feel your emotions, even change them to a certain amount. Also, tell Hook Nose that I have two types of venom; one, which is less dangerous and only works once, for the familiar bond and one that is fatal in about five minutes for attacks._ **

Harry relayed what Elpis had said and there was a stunned silence.

There was the same stunned silence nearly two weeks later when he told his friends.

It was the evening of the eleventh of August – Ginny’s twelfth birthday – and they were gathered at the burrow for a party. The conversation had come up when Ginny had opened her present from Hermione, the Pygmy Puff she had seen in Diagon Alley two weeks previously.

They had decided to introduce the Pygmy Puff – which she had named Arnold – to Elpis, to dissuade the later from eating the cute little ball of fluff.

Although Harry could only understand one side of the conversation, he was sure that his snake was not going to find a feast in Ginny’s new pet, but it did create the perfect opportunity to tell his friends the latest developments concerning his familiar.

They were all understandable shocked, as Harry himself had been when he first found out.

After they had talked about it for a little while, Harry thought that it was a good idea to bring the topic of conversation back to the reason they were there.

“So, Ginny, you never told us what your parents got you.”

“Mum got me a Holyhead Harpies duvet cover. Dad got me a book on hexes.” she laughed, “I don’t think he knows I already know most of them in there. Bill has taught me loads.”

For a moment the smile on her face broke, “I thought they might have gotten me a broom, because I really want to be on the team next year. But we can’t afford it.”

Harry grinned, “Actually Gin, the reason they didn’t get you one is because I asked them not to.”

He pulled out a long package and handed it to her, “Happy Birthday.” He smirked.

Quickly, she pulled off the wrappings, revealing Harry’s old Nimbus 2000, which he had cleaned and plucked until it looked brand-new.

“Wow Harry, this is amazing!”

“I hope you don’t mind that it’s second hand. It’s nearly as good as the Firebolt and it meant your parents didn’t have to buy it.”

“No, it’s perfect you’ve really thought of everything! Thank you.”

She reached forward and pulled Harry into a slightly longer than average hug, which made both of them blush.

“I’m sure you’ll get on the team Gin, your more than good enough.” Commented Hermione.

“And if not, you still have an amazing broom.” Added Ron (Harry had already told him about the broom so he wouldn’t be jealous, and he wasn’t bothered about being on the team anyway).

The next morning, Harry awoke early and jumped out of bed. The past two weeks he had been doing his Animagus meditations daily, but today was the first time he was going to try the transformation.

He quickly got dressed before settling down (with Elpis curled up on the top of his head, a favourite spot of hers) and closing his eyes. When he did his normal mediations, he liked to stare up at his galaxy ceiling, but when doing his Animagus meditations, he had to focus entirely on himself.

Gradually, he slowed with breathing and thought about every aspect of himself. It had been an experience to attempt it, as it was hard for him to admit certain things about himself, but he thought he was nearly there.

After about ten minutes of meditation, he spoke the incantation ‘animalis transformatio’ quietly to himself. He kept his eyes tight shut but could feel that nothing had happened. He went through his meditation again and tried the spell for a second time, still nothing.

Until lunchtime, he tried to figure out what he was missing, but to no avail.

Over the next two weeks, Harry tried everything he could think of in between his lessons with Severus, his extra work and seeing his friends, but he was still missing something.

There was less than a week left before school started again and Harry desperately wanted to have transformed at least once by then. After trying for the seemingly thousandth with no result, he sighed and went to make himself a drink.

As he left the room, he felt Elpis – who had been getting some food – teleport into his pocket.

**_What do you think I’m missing, Elpis?_ **

**_Well Little One, I think you are missing a very important thing._ **

**_What’s that?_ **

**_Last summer. You are saying it didn’t change you, but it changed your life completely. You have a new guardian now, a new family. You are still at Hogwarts and you have been able to see your friends countless times over the last few weeks._ **

**_It may have changed my life, but it hasn’t changed me._ **

**_That is where you are wrong, Little One. It has changed you; you believe it showed your weakness, but it in fact made you stronger. Until you believe and understand that, you do not understand your true self._ **

Sipping his drink, Harry considered Elpis’s words. Determinedly, he made his way back to his room, setting is cup down on the way. He settled down and once more tried to find and comprehend his true self.

This time he included he thoughts and emotions from the previous summer; how he had felt worthless and alone but that he was now stronger for it. He finally admitted to himself the extent of the pain his relatives had caused and allowed it to change him into who he truly was.

With tears flooding down his cheeks, he whispered the incantation. In his mind’s eye he watched a tiny blue and yellow bird flutter from within to the surface and flit around, hopping from branch to branch of a mind-created tree, surrounded by other birds, all of a similar shape, but of many different colours.

He saw himself and the other birds all moving together, helping each other, warning each other of danger. Suddenly his felt his body shift, he opened his eyes to find himself staring up at Elpis, who was now bigger than him.

Everything looked different; the whole room was massive, and he felt a little overwhelmed. Concentrating hard, he brought himself back to his human form and took a few deep breaths, then walked over to his door to crack it open before trying again.

The next time the gap between the incantation and the transformation was not as long and Harry felt a lot more relaxed. Cautiously, he lifted his wings and gave a tentative flap, startling himself when he could no longer feel the bed beneath his claws.

Falling with a flump back onto the duvet, he tried again, this time flapping his way down onto the floor. For the next half an hour, he practiced his flying; he was by no means perfect by the end of the time but could at least steer in the right direction and land safely.

He was just about to transform back, when Severus stuck his head through the door. Excitedly he flapped up to the man, landing on his shoulder and twittering in his ear, trying his best to tell his guardian that it was him.

“I’m assuming.” chuckled Severus, “That it is you sat on my shoulder Harry, and not that some odd Blue Tit has found its way down to the dungeons while my charge has disappeared into thin air.”

Harry bobbed his head best he could (it turned out as more of a whole-body bob) then twittered again, pushing into Severus’s neck for a second before flapping onto the floor then changing back into his human form.

For the next few hours, Harry practiced his transformation and each time he did it he had to meditate for a less and less time. By the time he went to go and meet Sirius and Remus for dinner, he could transform with just ten seconds of concentration as long as he said the incantation allowed.

As soon as they had finished eating, Harry showed them his new form and the four of them (Elpis, of course, included herself in the conversation) mused about why that particular bird. No-one of them could quite work out why his Animagus form was a Blue Tit but Harry still thought it was perfect.

Sirius explained to him that it was a good idea to have a name for his Animagus form, his own nickname had started as just that, but had developed into more of a casual name. He suggested that Harry come up with something that they could call this new form by, so they wouldn’t give his secret away to just anyone.

After an hour of brain storming, they finally came up with Azul, one of the few words Harry could remember from his subpar Spanish lessons at Primary school.

A few days later and the group were getting together for one last afternoon of fun before school began, they were lounging by the lake after having had a picnic and Harry thought that it was the perfect time to show his friends his new skill.

He had been practicing both the transformation and flying, inside and out over the last few days and so was fairly confident to show them.

“Hey guys,” he started, getting their attention, “I actually have something really cool to show you.”

He looked at their curious, expectant faces then took a deep breath.

“You know how my dad and Sirius became Animagi?” he asked.

Most of the group nodded, while Luna looked off into space and Hermione narrowed her eyes.

“Please tell me this isn’t going where I think it is.”

“It probably is Hermione.” Harry laughed, “I can’t get anything past you.”

He took another deep breath, “Padfoot kind of showed me how to become an Animagus.”

Luna didn’t look surprised but everyone else had a combination of shock, admiration and jealousy on their faces.

Ginny, Hermione and Ron all spoke at once.

“ _Wow_! Can you show us?”

“Why did you keep it a secret from us?”

 _“Awesome_! How did you manage _that_?”

“Guys, slow down. Yes Gin, I’ll show you in a second. Hermione, I kept it a secret because I wasn’t even sure if it was possible and because I wanted to surprise you. Of course, I’ll show you all how to do it today, I’m not going to keep how to do it a secret.”

Hermione looked slightly less hurt, so Harry turned to Luna, who had been trying to ask him a question.

“You know you true strength now, don’t you?”

Everyone else looked confused, but Harry chuckled at Luna’s intuition, “Yes, I do, thank you. Now everyone, meet Azul.”

He closed his eyes for a second and thought the incantation until he felt his body shift. He opened his eyes and took to the air, flitting from shoulder to shoulder before moving to his spot on the grass and changing back.

His friends all looked at him in awe of envy, Hermione was the first to speak.

“That’s truly incredible Harry. How long did it take you?”

“Thanks, exactly four weeks. I started on my birthday and I’ve been getting faster at transforming since I first managed it. Right, first we have to see if you’re Animagus compatible. Hermione, I’ll start with you. When I cast the spell, a silvery animal should appear, it will be quite indistinct. I just saw a small bird; I didn’t know I was going to be a Blue Tit. Okay?”

Hermione nodded and he cast the spell. After about ten seconds a huge bird of prey appeared, made of the silvery mist, and Hermione gasped in awe and excitement.

Next Harry moved onto Ron, it took about thirty seconds, but a large hare erupted from his chest and sat cleaning itself for a few seconds. Next Harry cast the spell on Neville, who had a silvery badger appear after about ten seconds.

Luna was next, a squirrel appeared almost straight away and finally Ginny, who had a horse of some shortish with short legs appeared after about twenty seconds.

They were overjoyed that they would all be able to have Animagus forms and Harry showed them all the meditation techniques they needed to find their true selves. Ten minutes later, Remus came out to tell them that they all needed to go home, only to find all six teenagers lying flat on their backs, with their eyes closed, in silence.

Once Remus had poked them all, they said their goodbyes and agreed to find a compartment together the next day on the Hogwarts express.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan to list my explanations for each characters Animagus form and name (yes, they are all having little names) as I go, first up, Harry.
> 
> Harry is a Blue Tit because I see him as someone who is happy to just blend into the woodland, but if he needs to, he will defend his own and bring other people into his flock (Blue Tit will allow other types of Tit into their territory). They are also a symbol of love and trust, so I thought it was perfect.  
> His Animagus name is Azul (Spanish for blue) partly because of his colourings as well as the word's heavenly connotations, but also if you trace it for back into history there is a mine that holds stone known as heaven or sky stone, which i think is pretty cool. 
> 
> The others I will explain as they complete their transformations.  
> Let me know your thoughts on what I've written so far.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	4. No place I'd rather be [P4]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip on the Hogwarts express and the start of the new term.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't haave much to say, so...  
> Enjoy :)

The next morning, Harry packed his rucksack and flooed to platform 9 ¾ to meet his friends.

He was the first of his friends to arrive, but soon four out of the six of them were there (the Weasleys were running late as usual) so they decided to find a compartment together. Not long later, the train left the station and they waved out the window to the parents stood on the platform.

Despite the fact that the group had only been together the day before, they found lots to talk about, and before they knew it, the Trolley Witch had arrived and they all bought some lunch – well less actual food and more sweets – to keep them going until the feast that evening.

After they had eaten all their food, the group decided that it would be a good time to practice their Animagus meditations (which Harry was continuing with for a while so he could become better at the transformation) so they all settled back in their seats with their eyes closed.

Harry asked Elpis, who was hidden in his pocket, to keep a look out for anyone entering their carriage while they all had their eyes closed and she happily complied.

They had been sat in silence for about half an hour, when a loud crack startled them. They all opened their eyes and there, stood on the floor of the carriage looking up at Harry, was a particularly scrawny looking House-elf, who seemed to only be wearing an extremely dirty pillowcase.

“Who are you?” asked Harry, while the others looked on in surprise.

“I am Dobby.” answered the elf in a pitifully high voice, “And Dobby is here to tell you that you must not go back to Hogwarts, if you do, you will be in grave danger.”

“When am I not in grave danger?” Harry commented sarcastically, “Someone’s always out to get me. Who is it this time?”

Dobby opened his mouth to answer, but instead he gave a squawk and began hitting his head on the floor. Quickly, Harry reached out and lifted him a little way off the ground to stop him, before shouting at him.

“What are you doing? You’re going to hurt yourself!”

“Dobby was going to say something bad about his master, he had to punish himself.”

“So, you’re not a Hogwarts elf?” Harry asked.

The pitiful elf shook his head, “Dobby has heard of a plot to bring danger to Hogwarts, Harry Potter must leave while he still can.”

Harry raised his eyebrows in disbelief, “Dobby, I live there. I have no-where else to go, it’s literally my home. Besides, even if I could leave I wouldn’t, I would never just leave my friends in danger like that.”

It was then that the elf started to cry, Harry dropped him in surprise, but when he apologised, Dobby just bawled harder and he didn’t know what how get him to stop.

After a few seconds, the elf managed to choke out amidst a few hiccups, “Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew.”

Harry blushed a Weasley shade of red, “That’s a load of rubbish Dobby. Now, why am I in danger?”

The elf simply began to hit his head on the floor again, forcing Harry to grab him once more, “Alright, alright, stop! You can’t tell me, just stop!”

The door of their carriage began to slide open and with a click of his fingers, the sobbing elf disappeared completely. When the door fully opened, it revealed Theodore Nott, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, both of whom had sneering expressions. For once, Draco was not with them.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the boy-who-lived with his entourage of mudbloods, squibs and blood traitors.” smirked the leader of the group.

“What do you want Nott?” snapped Harry.

“Temper, temper.” quipped Theo, “You really should learn to control that, want a hand?”

He lifted his wand and his cronies lifted their fists, but before they could do anything, all six teenagers sat in the compartment had their wands out and three of them had shot hexes. Harry shot a leg-locker curse at Nott, while Hermione shot a jelly-legs jinx at Crabbe and Ginny shot a bat-bogey hex at Goyle.

Theo tripped and fell flat on his face, only to be pulled out of the compartment by his bodyguards, one of whom couldn’t see straight because of the bats and the other couldn’t walk properly as his legs were shaking. Quickly as they could, they fled, leaving Harry to congratulate Ginny and Hermione on their speedy spells.

For the remaining for hours, they discussed what Dobby’s message might have meant and Harry explained to Hermione that no, House-elves didn’t want to be freed. They also spent quite a bit of time in companionable silence, practicing their Animagus mediations.

Pulling into Hogsmeade station, the group heard the familiar voice of Hagrid calling out to the first years; they gave him a wave before finding a carriage.

The sorting and welcome feast continued as usual and Harry sent Severus a note to ask him if they could meet after everyone had left the Great Hall.

Telling his friends that he’d meet them in the common room, Harry made his way towards his guardian after the feast was over. Quickly, he told his everything that happened on the train, both with Dobby and the Slytherins, whom Severus promised to keep an eye on.

Frowning, he asked, “What did you say the elf’s name was?”

“Dobby.” Answered Harry, “I don’t know if it was genuine or someone’s idea of a joke.”

“I’ll give it some thought.” promised Severus, “Now, you should get back to your common room.”

They parted ways and the Potions Master made his way to the Slytherin common room, deep in thought; he only knew one person who had a House-elf named Dobby, and that man was Lucius Malfoy.

Walking into the silver and green common room, he noticed that his prefects had been successful in rounded the Slytherins up and they were all sat waiting for his start-of-term notices.

“Thank you for gathering so promptly.” He addressed his snakes, “Welcome first years, you will find that you have been placed in a house that is somewhat discriminated against by the other houses, especially those in Gryffindor. However, you have yourself a family in your fellow Snakes, as we in Slytherin stick together.”

Severus went on to give the notices and outline the school rules before he let his students go. He quickly wrote a note to Draco Malfoy, instructing him to meet him in his office the next day after dinner, he then called back three of his third-year snakes.

“Mr Nott, Mr Crabbe, Mr Goyle, I hear there was an incident on the train. Would you care to explain what happened?” he asked with a glare.

“They shot hexes at us.” Answered Theo, while Crabbe and Goyle nodded behind him.

“Why was that?”

“When we went it, Potter got all annoyed at us. I told him that he should control his temper and then they shot the hexes at us.”

“And why might you have been in their compartment in the first place?”

His query was met with guilty looks and shuffling of feet.

“I see.” He sharpened his glare, “So it is safe to say that you provoked them?”

“Yes, Sir.” Theo sighed.

“Very well. As you were the ones to provoke the attack, all the blame cannot land on Mr Potter and his friends. I think we shall gloss over the event, as you got what you deserved by way of hexes and they were clearly triggered enough to fire the hexes the first the place.”

The boys in front of him looked slightly relieved, so he continued, “However, I suggest that you refrain from provoking anyone in this was again, especially that particular student. It may have slipped you mind, but only nine months ago, the snakes made Mr Potter an honorary Slytherin, so you actually attacked one of your own. It will do you well to remember it.”

The snakes in front of him mumbled a quick, “Yes Sir.” Then slouched off to their dormitories, leaving their head of year stood alone in the common room.

* * *

After dinner the next day, Severus waited patiently in his office for his godson, while marking some holiday homework. Promptly, a knock was heard at the door, after he stated allowed permission of entry, it opened to reveal the very teenager he had been looking for.

“Ah Draco. Please sit down.”

He motioned to a chair and the boy sat, a little nervously.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, and Draco immediately stiffened, pulling his face into a neutral expression.

“Father doesn’t want me to talk to you.”

“What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.” commented Severus, “Besides there are a few things I need to talk to you about, as your head of house.

“First of all, have you heard your father planning anything for Hogwarts this year?”

The teenager shook his head, but Severus could tell he knew something, “Draco, please tell me what you know, the school could be in danger.”

Trembling slightly, Draco answered, “He gave me a diary, said I had to give it to someone weak and lonely, preferably a first year.”

“A diary? What kind of diary?”

“It had a black cover, but it was blank. He didn’t tell me why or what it did, I’m not quite sure he even knows.”

“And what have you done with it?”

Now Draco started to tremble in earnest, “I was going to bring it to you, I didn’t want to give it to anyone else, but I knew father would find out if I didn’t. But I left it on the table last night while I went to get something, and when I came back it was gone. I’ve no idea who took it.”

Severus frowned, “Thank you for telling me, at least we know it was a Slytherin who took it and we can keep an eye out for anything strange. Now, the second thing I wanted to talk to you about was your grades. I know how your father gets about them, and some of them were not perfect last term.”

He pulled out a list and looked down it, “Your lowest is transfiguration, how would you feel about getting some extra help with it?”

Draco looked down at his feet, “That would probably be beneficial, thank you. Who were you thinking?”

“Well, a student with high grades who also happens to be good at tutoring would be Miss Granger.”

The teenager looked up in surprise, “Sev, I’m all for going against my father’s ideals, but do you think that’s a bit far? I’d have to pretend I hate her just to keep my Father off my back.”

An ashamed expression came onto his face, “I have already treated her badly enough on my own over the last two years, without being forced to at least act like I hate her guts, just because I’ve finally seen how bigoted my own father is.”

“Out of all of Mr Potters friends, I feel that Miss Granger would be the one to except your apology the quickest, even play along if she needed to. You would, of course, have to apologise first, but I believe it will be a great help. You may well need some true friends when the Dark Lord returns.”

“I have good friends; they just share the same ideals as their parents. Although I guess having some friends who I actually wanted to spend time with would be nice, I don’t like being with people who think like that. I can’t believe I did.” He sighed, then a look of fear came across his face, “Do you think you-know-who will return?”

“Undoubtedly. Draco, there may well come a time when you have to separate completely from you father, just so you are not forced down that path. Are you ready for that?”

The teenager trembled again, “No, but I will be when I need to be. You have to promise me that we will find a way to keep mother safe, she doesn’t agree with Father about anything of this nature. If I need to make friends with a few Gryffindors then so be it, although I don’t see why they would want to be friends with me.”

“I promise, we will keep Narcissa safe. And the only way you can know is to ask Draco, how about I call Miss Granger here now? And we can talk about it.”

Draco nodded and Severus wrote a note asked Miss Granger to come to his office immediately. He sent it and the two talked of Draco’s new lessons as they waited for her to arrive.

Ten minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door, and it opened to reveal a nervous (and slightly shocked when she saw Draco) looking Hermione.

“Ah, Miss Granger please have a seat. And don’t look so worried, I’m not going to eat you – yet.”

He smirked at her and she gave him a small smile back, she still wasn’t used to the fact that the most hated teacher in the whole school had a sense of humor.

“I hope I’m not interrupting something, Sir.” she glanced at Draco, “What was it you wanted to see me about?”

“I asked you here because there was something I need to discuss with you. However, I must stress how important it is that this goes no further than us three, no-one else must know.”

Hermione nodded seriously and Severus explained to her Draco’s predicament.

He ended by saying, “I have told you this because it is my hope that my godson will find friends and allies on the side of the Light, so that he is not forced down the path of the Dark. I wish for you to tutor him in transfiguration, partly so he can get his grades up, and partly so he can lay down some roots outside of the friends he has grown up with. You must understand that you will have to keep up the act of hating each other, not that I am forcing you to be friends either, to protect yourselves.”

There was a pause, then Hermione spoke up, “Sir, as much as I understand what you are saying and I would like to help, from what you have said, Draco realising how wrong his actions were has only happened recently, in the last six months or so. What about everything that happened before then? Draco, I have yet to see any remorse or hear an apology come from you, do you understand what you have done? You bullied people, you bullied me, and Ron – all the Weasleys actually - and Harry, and we did nothing to deserve it, are you truly sorry?”

“I am.” Draco took a deep breath and looked the girl straight in the eyes, “I am truly sorry for all I did to you and everyone else. I was jealous and knew no better. Will you forgive me, and will you help me?”

Hermione looked slightly surprised at the sincerity in his voice, but replied, “I forgive you and yes, I will help you. Although I suggest that you also apologise to the others too.”

“I’m not sure that would work quite so soon.” Severus interjected, “We must keep this between us for now. Now this is sorted, I suggest you go back to your respective common rooms. Tell anyone who asked that I am forcing you two into this. Goodnight.”

* * *

That Friday, Hermione and Draco met for their first tutor session. To get a little bit more privacy, they went to the new room (or the omnis room as it was now called) which was empty except for Hermione’s friends.

They seemed quite content to leave the two of them to it, as long as Draco didn’t do anything (which he had no intentions to) all apart from Ron, who threw filthy looks at the Slytherin every few minutes.

This angered Draco, until Hermione gently pointed out that his father’s influence was the main reason that Ron’s father was so underpaid, which generally stopped the Slytherin from sending any dirty looks back.

All in all, their first tutor session didn’t go badly at all, Hermione was a good teacher and Draco learnt a lot from her. He didn’t have much trouble with his fellow Slytherins, as he had convinced them that he didn’t have a choice in the matter and they never saw him with Hermione, so they didn’t know that he treated her with anything other than hatred.

Everything was going smoothly so far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one ends a little weirdly.  
> Omnis means everyone, incase you were wondering.  
> Let me know what you think.  
> Hope you're enjoying what I'm doing with the story.


	5. A thousand miles from comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione's birthday and the chamber gets opened for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are!  
> I have just one question for you...  
> Out of the five friends (excluding Harry) who will complete their Animagus transformation quickest?  
> The one who is more in tune with their true self...  
> Enjoy :)

Hermione woke the morning of her birthday in high spirits, so far that year nothing was going wrong. Unless you counted the visit from Dobby of course, but Harry hadn’t heard anything from him in the two weeks they’d been back at school.

She wasn’t expecting much for her birthday, just a fun day with her friends – she knew that the most exciting part of the day was that they were going to be trying their animal transformations for the first time.

Just then, Ginny poked her head around the door to wish her happy birthday, which prompted all the other girls in her dormitory to do the same. She didn’t mind that they hadn’t already as she wasn’t really very close to any of them.

Walking into the common room, she was greeted by Harry, Ron and Neville, who all wished her happy birthday. Harry gave her a quick hug and explained that they had a bit of something planned for later, which was why they hadn’t brought down her presents then.

Hermione was just delighted that not only did she have friends, they were willing to buy her presents and plan special things on her birthday - nothing could ruin that for her.

“I rescheduled your session with Malfoy,” explained Harry, “I asked Severus to talk to him because I didn’t want you to know anything was happening today.”

“Thank you.” Hermione replied, a little disappointed that Harry had not told Draco himself, but then again, he didn’t know that Draco was actually on their side now.

Once the group had eaten breakfast (they met up with Luna in the Great Hall) they headed out and sat by the lake, laughing and chatting. When the time came, they had a picnic where they sat, under the beech tree.

Harry and Ron had gone down to the kitchens the night before so that they could ask the House-elves specifically for Hermione’s favourite foods (when this came up Hermione wasn’t happy but over the last two weeks they had managed to convince her of the fact that House-elves have no magic unless they are bonded to wizards).

After lunch, Harry led his friends up to the seventh floor of Hogwarts, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.

“I mentioned to Severus that we needed a place to practice our transformations without the danger of anyone finding us, he said that he didn’t know of anywhere, but to ask the House-elves, as they seem to know where everything is in this school. When we were in the kitchens last night I asked, and one Elf told me of a room that they call the Come and Go room but that wizards – and witches – call the Room of Requirement.”

As he was saying this, he walked up and down, thinking hard about them needed a place to practice their Animagus transformations. On the third length, a door appeared, and he opened it to find a room with mats spaced out across it. They each picked a mat and sat on it.

“Okay, so you need to do your meditations, then when you think you’re ready you say ‘Animalis Transformatio’ - you’ll have to say it out loud – it probably won’t work first time, chances are you’ll have missed something but you won’t know until you’ve tried. Is that all okay?”

**_I won’t be surprised if the dreamy girl does it first time_**. Stated Elpis, who was in Harry’s pocket.

“Harry, how will we know if it worked?” asked Hermione nervously.

“Well, first of all, you’ll see your form coming out of you, almost like a video in your mind’s eye, then you’ll feel your body shift and when you open your eyes, your perspective will be different. I think all of us are going to be smaller than we are normally, the only person who might not be is Ginny.”

**_If I look big, you have transformed._** The snake added helpfully, not that anyone but Harry could hear her.

Everyone except Harry settled down on their mats and closed their eyes, Elpis teleported out of his pocket and also settled on a corner of a mat, promising to keep an eye out for anyone who managed the transformation, while Harry transformed straight into Azul and began working on his flying, which was much improved, but still not perfect.

After about twenty minutes, Harry was shocked to hear Elpis say, **_The dreamy one has done it._**

He turned only to see a big (well it was big compared his current size) red squirrel, with a thick bushy tail, bounding towards him. He hopped onto the back of the squirrel, who was chattering with delight and had a little ride around the room before hopping off again and turning back into Harry.

Luna did the same and exclaimed, “Wow! That was something else!”

Harry laughed, “Isn’t it? I’m really impressed Luna, it only took you three weeks, it normally takes about two months, according to Padfoot.”

( ** _She knows her true self well. Most people lie to themselves and others about who they really are, she does not.)_**

“Did she manage it?” asked Hermione eagerly.

“Yeah, she’s a beautiful little red squirrel.”

Neville seemed to bristle slightly as Harry said that, but he quickly neutralised his face, “Well done, Luna – that’s amazing!”

“We’ll have to come up with a name for your form now.” Commented Ginny.

“But I’m not sure we can come up with a good name without seeing your form. Do you think you could do it again?” Hermione added.

Luna nodded and settled back onto her mat, ten minutes later she quietly spoke the incantation and morphed into the same little red squirrel.

The squirrel took a flying leap onto Neville shoulder, then chattered softly in his ear while the others exclaimed how awesome she looked.

“I think she looks like a Munchie.” Laughed Ron.

“Maybe more of a Bushy.” Commented Harry.

( ** _Flame would suit her well.)_**

The squirrel fixed its bright, yet dreamy eyes on them as if wishing they would take it seriously.

“Well if you want to carry on with the theme of her name, you could go with Ayla.” Suggested Hermione, “That’s synonymous with moonlight.”

Quickly Luna moved away and morphed back into herself, “That sounds cool!”

“Well then, I’m glad that’s settled.” Smiled Harry, “If everyone else wants to go back to trying to transform for the first time, Luna can work on the speed of the transformation into Ayla and next weekend we’ll ask the room for some stuff to practice our animal behaviours, maybe it can get hold of some trees or something similar.”

Everyone agreed and settled down; after a few hours, Luna was able to transform into Ayla with only thirty seconds of meditation - as long as she said the incantation - but no-one else managed it that day.

Soon, it was time to go down for dinner, but instead of leading them to the Great Hall, Harry led them to the omnis room, which was laid out with food, drinks and even a birthday cake in the shape of the number fourteen with blue roses on it.

It seemed the elves had gone out of their way to find muggle things to eat, as a lot of what was on the table was typical party food; jelly and ice-cream, chicken nuggets, curly fries, pizza and it even looked like they had got hold of some lemonade.

Hermione wasn’t expecting any of this, as she thought the picnic at lunchtime was what her friends had been planning.

“What’s all this?” she asked.

“Your birthday party.” Harry grinned, “Me and Ginny fixed it yesterday while you were with Malfoy.”

“We’ve been given permission to have our food in here instead of the Great Hall.” added Ginny.

“We thought about inviting more people, but there’s wasn’t anyone we thought of who could make this better.”

For split second, the thought of Draco flitted into Hermione’s mind, but she pushed it down, “No this is perfect!” She gave both Ginny and Harry a quick hug, “Thank you for arranging it.”

“Our pleasure.” Said Ginny, smiling at Harry before quickly looking away again, a little red in the face, “How about you open some presents?”

They all pulled up bean bags and started to hand Hermione her presents. They all got her books of some sort, but she didn’t mind - after all, she knew that she would enjoy reading them and they were on a myriad of different interesting topics.

Once they had finished presents, they started to decimate the food (Ron helped a lot, despite being unsure of the muggle food at first) and then they sang happy birthday over the cake.

When they thought it would be a good time to open the cans of lemonade, Harry and Hermione managed to convince the others that they had to shake them first, so they were well mixed. This prank caused lots of laughter and quite a few sticky spots that had to be Scourgifyed off.

After a few hours, it was nearing curfew, so they decided to go to bed (Harry normally spend Saturday nights with Severus, but he was going to spend the next night instead).

As soon as they exited the room, Harry heard a strange, raspy voice echoing from the walls.

“ _Rip… Tear… Kill…”_

He stopped dead in his tracks and Ginny bumped into him, blushing violently.

“Do you guys hear that?”

“Hear what?” asked a confused Hermione.

“ _Rip… Tear… Kill…”_

“That voice! Saying it wants to kill!”

**_I hear it,_** answered Elpis.

“What?!” came back at least three voices.

“This way, quick!” Harry pelted up the corridor and onto another, following the voice as best he could.

Suddenly, he slipped, falling face first into some water that was covering the floor. Carefully, he stood up again and cast the hot-air charm to dry his clothes.

His friends all stood, frozen by his side, staring up at the wall opposite them in horror. Harry looked up and read the words that were scrawled there in huge, blood red letters.

**The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.**

**Enemies of the heir, beware.**

He was just wondering what that meant, when Hermione screamed, pointing to something on the floor that looked suspiciously like Filch lying face down and unmoving.

Hermione looked like she was going to investigate, but Harry put his hand out to stop her.

“Wait, you don’t know what’s happened. I’ll call Severus. Where are we?”

“That’s Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.” Ginny pointed at the door under the words.

Too concerned with getting someone there to help them, Harry didn’t take the time to wonder who Moaning Myrtle was, he just sent a note.

**_Emergency._ **

**_Come to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom._ **

**_Now!_ **

He sent it off, and they waited in tense silence. The minutes passes slowly, but eventually Severus appeared, flanked by Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore.

“What is it? What’s happened?” panted the Potions Master.

Harry simply pointed and McGonagall gasped, while Dumbledore and Severus moved forward to investigate.

The body of Filch was rigid and stiff, as if rigor mortis had set in, he was sure they were looking at a dead body until Dumbledore spoke up.

“He’s alive.”

“Alive? Then what’s happened to him?”

The Headmaster waved his wand over the body a few times, muttering spells under his breath.

“Petrification.”

“But… how could that have happened?”

“The same way it happened last time, I would guess.”

“Albus, what are you trying to say.”

He gestured to the words glistening on the wall, “This happened fifty years ago, when I was the transfiguration professor. Hagrid was expelled for opening the Chamber of Secrets, but to this day I do not believe it was him. He was simply raising an acromantula in a cupboard. I believe it’s living harmlessly in the forest with its family now.”

Ron’s eyes bulged at this, not only was there a giant species of spider living in the forest, he had a family? Ron decided he was never going in the forest, ever, for any reason.

“Do you really believe the chamber has been opened, Albus?”

“It is hard to say. But if this happens again, we will know. Mr Potter, what exactly happened?”

Harry explained about how he had heard the voice be no-one else had, expect Elpis, and they had followed it to the body of Filch.

Dumbledore nodded along then said, “I must go to my office, Severus if you would please take Mr Filch down to the hospital wing, Minerva would you please take these students back to their respective towers?”

With that he strode off. Severus squeezed Harry’s shoulder reassuringly before levitating Filch and marching off with him, leaving McGonagall and the six teenagers. She began to lead them off towards the Ravenclaw tower (they were going to take Luna to her tower first) asking them if they were alright.

They reassured her that they were fine, then Hermione plucked up the courage to ask, “Professor, what is the Chamber of Secrets?”

McGonagall told them the legend and when she had finished, Harry exclaimed, “So the reason people think Slytherins are evil goes all the way back to the founders? No wonder everyone believes it.”

They were told not to tell anyone what they had seen and that there would be an announcement the next morning, as the huge red words were quite hard to miss, and they didn’t want false stories spreading around.

* * *

The next day Hermione had her session with Draco, the whole school was abuzz with the news they had been told last night; that Filch had been attacked and they didn’t know who did it. Most people had seen the message written on the wall and, no matter what the professors said, there were rumours flying everywhere.

The pair were halfway through their session when Draco asked in a hushed voice, “So what actually happened yesterday.”

Hermione was surprised, as they had only ever talked about work before now, but explained anyway, leaving out the fact that Harry had heard a voice and instead making it seem like they had just happened on the body.

Strangely enough, Draco seemed to simply accept the fact that it had happened, instead of trying to blame them for it or ask her for the ‘real truth’ as many people had done. She asked him to not tell anyone else and he agreed.

There was a pause and Hermione thought about asking a question she had wanted to ask for a little while now, she decided to take a leap, “Why do you try not to spend time with the Slytherins in your year?”

Draco stiffened then sighed, “There are two groups of Slytherins in each year, the group that have known each other for years because our families are all purebloods and they were forced to be friends as children, then the group that met at Hogwarts and want nothing to do with us because we are known for being bullies. Which I guess is fair, as a lot of us are, we often see ourselves as superior.”

He took a deep breath and looked at Hermione, who gave him a look which invited him to continue.

“The people I was friends with last year all have the same ideals as their parents, and my father, but I am done being brainwashed. I don’t want to bully people and I definitely don’t want to be a death eater then you-know-who returns, so I’m trying to get away without my father finding out but I have no-where to go as the other group, the ones Potter are friends with, won’t accept me.”

“Is there really no-one?” asked a concerned Hermione.

Draco was slightly surprised at this concern, but answered anyway, “Well, Daphne agrees with me. Her parents are pureblood but neutral in the first war, so she was never brainwashed in the same way.”

“Can’t you go with her?”

“I try, but she’s, I don’t know, different this year. She wants more time alone, she’s quieter, I’ve been wondering if something happened over the summer.”

Draco suddenly looked as if he’d said too much, he paled slightly (despite how light his skin was already) and looked around as if he expected someone to be listening in.

“Anyway, we should carry on.”

Hermione could see that he wasn’t going to talk about anything else that day, so she accepted it and went back to helping him.

Meanwhile, in the library, Harry was having a similar conversation with the Slytherins he studied with.

“I heard yesterday that the prejudices against Slytherin house date all the way back to the founders, apparently they had a huge argument about allowing muggle-borns into the school. How do guys actually get treated? Because I personally don’t think that your house defines which side you are in a war.”

“No, it doesn’t, most of the Slytherins want nothing to do with you-know-who.” Answered Sophie Evans.

“And the one’s that do, we stay away from.” Added her friend, Sam Short.

“But as for you first question,” Sophie continued, “By the rest of the school, we get treated with a little bit of prejudice, like we don’t get many house points and people always assume stuff that goes wrong is out fault. But we don’t get treated as badly as the pureblood elitists because we don’t actively bully people.”

“That’s really not fair!” Exclaimed Harry, causing Madam Prince to glare at him. He lowered his voice before continuing, “I wish I could do something about it. You know you guys are always welcome to join me and my friends, we don’t discriminate.”

“Thanks Harry, we might just take you up on that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my explanation for Luna's Animagus form and name:  
> She is a red squirrel because they are beautiful and unique. they are pushed around and forced out of their homes by grey squirrels, but they are quite friendly, if a little crazy and just generally cheerful. Perfect Luna, right?  
> The name, Ayla, has Turkish backgrounds, and it means 'halo around the moon' but it also has roots in Scotland where it means 'from a strong and resilient place'.  
> It is also a variant of the Hebrew name 'Eilah' which means 'oak tree' which is pretty perfect for a squirrel.
> 
> Let me know what you think of my fic.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	6. A thousand miles from comfort [P2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few more attacks and a few more Animagus transformations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look at that! Two chapters in one day!  
> I hope you guys don't mind me following the Chamber of Secrets story line in third year, it just worked better.  
> Enjoy :)

One month later, the monster from the Chamber struck again.

The whole school was in the Great Hall for dinner, and the atmosphere was more relaxed that in had been in a while, as most people were beginning to think that what happened to Filch was a fluke accident.

Halfway through the meal, Harry thought he heard the voice again, but the noise in the Great Hall was too loud to know for certain, so he brushed it off and continued eating.

When everyone had finished, peopled started to leave, but as the first people opened the doors, there was a scream that echoed throughout the whole room. Everyone rushed for the doors in a panic, and the Professors had to push their way through everyone to try and get to the person who had screamed.

Harry followed closely behind Severus, knowing that he would be able to get through if he stayed directly behind a professor.

As soon as they got to the front of the crowd, they were greeted by the sight of Collin Creevey (a second year Gryffindor who always carried around a muggle camera) frozen, with his camera held up to his face.

Harry was close enough to hear Dumbledore confirm that Creevey was petrified and see that when the camera (which they had to prise out of the boy’s hands) was opened, a stream of smoke rose from it.

Guessing that the voice – which he now believed he had heard – and the petrification’s were connected, Harry resisted when the students were escorted back to their common rooms by the prefects, instead making a beeline for where the teachers had gathered.

He tapped his guardian on the shoulder and said to him in a low voice, “I heard the voice again, when we were in the Great Hall. I thought I heard it, then I convinced myself I didn’t but now I think I did.”

Severus was understandably concerned, “What did it say?”

“The same as last time. Do you have any idea what is going on?”

Before he could answer, Severus got distracted by McGonagall frantically asking the Headmaster, “Do you know what this means?”

“It means, the Chamber of Secrets has once again been opened.” Answered Dumbledore gravely, “We must put certain safety precautions in place. Heads of year, please check your students are back safely, then meet me in my office.”

Two mornings later, Harry was running around his dormitory, desperately trying to find his transfiguration, potions and defence homework, all of which were due in that day and yet were no-where to be found.

He was going to be late for defence if he didn’t leave then - and he was going to make his friends late too as no-one was allowed to go around the school alone now - but he only had seen his homework the night before.

Before he had gone to sleep last night, he had laid it on top of his trunk, so he didn’t see how it could just vanish.

Sighing he gave up, there was no point in loosing even more house points by being late, he would just have to re-do it.

Luckily, all of his teachers believed that he wasn’t lying about having done his homework, they simply took points for being careless with his things, which he supposed was only fair.

They all asked him to re-do the work for the next day, which was slightly frustrating as he had been planning to go to the Room of Requirement with his friends that night.

No-one else had managed their transformations yet, but he had a feeling a few of them were close and he wanted to be there. He decided to comprise, he would take his work to the Room of Requirement and so it while the others practiced.

That decision led to Harry and his friends being together that evening, Harry was doing his work, Luna was practicing her jumping (she hadn’t quite got the hang of not falling out the tree) and the others were practicing their transformations.

Harry had just finished his Potions essay (he had managed to get his defence essay done at lunch) which Elpis hissed at him.

_“The bushy-haired one has done it.”_

Harry looked up to see a magnificent osprey, with a sharp hooked break, yellow eyes and beautiful brown and white feathers. He reached down to smooth the feathers on the bird’s back, and it gave a short cry and flapped its wings slightly.

The noise made everyone else open their eyes and Luna, who had transformed back from Ayla as soon as she had seen Hermione’s new form, bounded over.

“Oh, that’s amazing! I’ve never seen an Osprey up close.” Commented Luna.

“She’s an osprey, is she?” asked Ron, “I’ve never heard of that.”

Hermione quickly transformed back, and spoke with shining eyes, “Osprey are birds of prey, usually found in Scotland, they aren’t very common. This is truly amazing! It felt so strange.”

Harry laughed, “It does take some getting used to.” He admitted, “Now, what shall we call you?”

They all looked at each other, but no-one could come up with a name.

“How about Iris? She was Greek messenger for the gods.”

“That sounds pretty cool.” Ron admitted.

“Iris it is.” Harry grinned, “You should practice turning into Iris, Luna can practice her jumping – which is getting better, I’ve noticed – and the rest of you can try your transformations.”

Ron grumbled a little at not having managed his transformation yet, but he settled down quietly.

Harry was halfway through his transfiguration essay (he kept getting distracted by Hermione turning into Iris) when Elpis hissed to him again.

“ _The fiery one has done it.”_

He looked to up find that, instead of Ginny sitting on the mat, there was a cream dun Shetland pony with short legs and bright black eyes.

Concentrating for a moment, he turned into Azul and flitted up onto the ponies back, twittering away. The pony shook her mane and he hopped off again, turning back into Harry and patting the delicate nose.

“You’re beautiful.” He announced, before realising what he had said and blushing a violent shade of red.

He didn’t understand why it felt so awkward to compliment his close friend, but he didn’t have time to dwell, as now the others had realised what had happened and we are crowding around, offering congratulations.

Quickly, Ginny changed back. “Well that was something else.” She announced with a laugh, “I think we’re going to need a bigger room so I can get used to running with four legs.”

“Probably.” Hermione frowned, “you probably want to ask for different surfaces too, so you can practice on grass, and stone and…”

“Hermione, calm down.” Laughed Harry, “We can think about that another day. For now, lets just think of a name.”

“She kind of feels like a Candy.” Admitted Ginny, “There’s no particular reason, I just think it fits.

“Yeah, that works.” Agreed Harry, while the others nodded, “Right, well I have half a transfiguration essay left to write so we’ll have half an hour more, I think.”

* * *

There were no more attacks until mid-November.

Harry and his friends were in the Room of Requirement, Ginny, Luna, Harry and Hermione had all got used to being their animal selves (although Hermione still hadn’t quite got the hang of flying) and they could all transform pretty much immediately, but Neville and Ron had still not completed the transformation.

Luna and Harry were trying to help Hermione with her landings when a sandy hare with one floppy ear and long back legs appeared in front of them, moving its nose excitedly.

They all moved into a space and transformed into their human forms before realising that the hare before them was in fact Ron.

“That’s amazing mate!” exclaimed Harry.

Ron quickly changed back into himself, a huge smile on his face, “It feels amazing! But really weird!”

“We need to think of a name.” commented Neville.

“I’m not really bothered about a name.” replied Ron.

Ginny laughed, “If you’re not bothered, then we’ll call you Floppy.”

“That sounds perfect.” Agreed Harry with a smile, while Hermione nodded in mock-seriousness.

“Floppy? Wow, real macho, guys.” He grumbled.

“If you wanted a good name, you should have come up with one.”

“How about…”

“No,” cut in Ginny, “Too late now, you’re Floppy.”

Ron just rolled his eyes, “Whatever, lets just get back to practicing, shall we?”

Silenced reined, but Neville wasn’t happy. He was the only one who hadn’t managed the transformation and he didn’t know what he was missing. Suddenly an idea formed in his mind; there was no-one better at seeing what was really there than Luna.

He beckoned her over, then cast a silencing shield around them, partly so the others wouldn’t hear this deeply personal conversation and partly so they wouldn’t disturb anyone else.

“I need you help, Luna. I can’t work out what I’m missing.” He paused, blushing slightly, “And I know you’ll be able to work it out, because you see what’s really there wherever you look.”

“That’s a very nice thing to say.”

“It’s the truth.”

They smiled at each other, then Luna thought for a minute.

“Have you thought about the fact that you’re very brave?”

Neville was surprised, “But I’m not.”

Luna blinked at him, “But you are. Think about it, you wouldn’t be a badger otherwise. You just don’t believe in yourself very easily, the expectations placed on you by your family and by yourself are so high that they are stopping you succeeding. You need to forget about them and believe in yourself.”

The boy blushed bright red, “Maybe I do have high expectations of myself. But that has nothing to do with me being brave.”

“What I’m saying is, that despite the boundaries these expectations have placed on you, you’re still courageous.”

“I sorry, I just don’t see it.”

There was a moments pause before Luna spoke again, “You know how you told me that in your first year, you tried to stop Harry, Ron and Hermione from going out after curfew, you said you would fight them even though there was absolutely no way you could have won.”

Neville cringed slightly at Luna’s bluntness, but he didn’t mind too much, it was one of the things he loved about her.

“Surely that’s just stupidity - thinking I can take on three people - rather than bravery?”

“Hermione told me that the Headmaster gave you points for courage, what did he say again? ‘It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends’? Professor Dumbledore agrees with me.”

Carefully, Neville thought about it.

“I guess you’re right, I can be brave, when it’s important.”

“As long as your brave when you need to be, that’s all that matters.” Luna leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, before turning into Ayla and bounding away, leaving a heavily blushing and slightly confused Neville behind her.

He let down the silencing shield, then settled down on his back. Ten minutes later, he whispered the incantation and saw a badger coming out of the deep depths of his mind, going about its business and defending its territory.

Suddenly he felt a strange sensation in his body and opened his eyes to find that he was now looking at everything from a very low perspective. He gave a quick grunt and shook himself, picking each leg off the floor and testing how it worked.

Slowly and carefully, he walked over to where the others were - Luna was the first to see him.

“Oh, your beautiful!” she cried, burying her hands in his soft black and white fur. It felt nice, but definitely would have made his blush vividly if he had been in human form.

The others gathered around him and congratulated him, then started to suggest names; Blackie came up, as did Snuffles and Claws, but he shook his head to all of them.

He moved a few feet away into a space and changed back into his human form.

“How about Brock? It was in one of my books, it means Badger in old English.”

“That’s perfect.” Announced Luna.

They checked the time and discovered it was nearing curfew (which was seven for all years, due to recent events) so Neville didn’t have the time to do anymore transformations that day.

No sooner had they stepped outside, than Harry heard the voice again. He stopped dead in his tracks.

“You can hear it again, can’t you?” asked Hermione.

Harry nodded, “We need to go and find Severus. Now!”

They pelted through the halls together until the reached the Potion Master’s office and Harry knocked on the door while the others stood behind him, trying to get their breath back.

The angry face of Severus Snape appeared at the door.

“What?! Harry!”

“Heard… Voice… Come, quickly!” he panted, beckoning for his guardian to follow.

They got halfway to the Room of Requirement when the Head Girl, Yasmin Jones, appeared around the corner looking very serious.

“Sir, there’s been another attack.”

“Lead the way Miss Jones, these lot just came to tell me the same thing. Who is it this time?”

“That’s the strange thing, Sir. There’s a third year Hufflepuff, but the Fat Friar seems to be frozen too.”

Severus frowned, “I don’t see how that’s possible.”

“I don’t know either Sir, they’re just through here.”

Once he had seen them (Harry recognised the Hufflepuff to be Justin Finch-Fletchley), he sent a Patronus to the Headmaster, then asked Yasmin to take the students back to their common rooms, with a warning to tell no-one what had happened yet.

“What do you think is going to happen?” Harry asked Yasmin.

“Honestly, not too sure. I don’t think Hogwarts will be allowed to stay open in this carries on.”

As they walked the words hung in the air, Harry thought about them before he went to sleep; Hogwarts was his home – he had nowhere else to go.

The next day It was announced that students had to be chaperoned everywhere, prefects had to take students to the library and other similar places, professors had to take students to their next classes and Harry and his friends had to get Severus to escort them to the Room of Requirement when they wanted to go.

The day after that, Harry had to double back from the common room to his dormitory before they could go down to breakfast because he had left his arithmancy homework up there. He knew he had just enough time to pick it up, but when he tried to open the door, it wouldn’t move.

After he had spent about a minute pulling and pushing (even though he knew it was a pull door he had to check) he remembered that was, in fact, at a magical school, so the door was probably magically sealed.

He tried alohomora, which was the only unlocking spell he knew, and when that didn’t work, he began to panic. He couldn’t send a note, as it couldn’t go through the door and he couldn’t fit it under the door.

Suddenly he remembered the window, he opened it then wrote a note, sending it off in the hopes it would be able to find its way into another window. He knew Severus wouldn’t be very happy with him, but there wasn’t much else he could do.

Thinking he would try one last spell, he cast Reducto and then ducked the door was reduced to dust. Once the dust cleared, he sighed and tried to walk through the doorway, only to be thrown back across the room.

Every time he touched the area in the doorway, he was thrown backwards, so he gave up. Ten minutes later, Severus arrived, he didn’t look very happy.

“What’s going…”

He was cut short as he tried to enter the room and was thrown out again by the invisible force.

Harry explained what had happened, and Severus eventually managed to get him out. By that time, they had missed breakfast, but the Potion Master had brought some toast for his charge, not wanting him to go hungry.

As they walked to first period, they wondered what had happened to the door, but neither could work it out, especially as, according to Severus it was very strong magic, not the kind normally taught in schools.

The following weekend, Hermione and Draco met as usual, although they both had to be escorted to the omnis room, but they didn’t get much work done.

They were too busy trying to work out how the attacks were happening, both found it quite refreshing to talk to the other, as most the people they normally talked to found it more entertaining to spin wild stories, whereas the two of them liked to come up with realistic explanations.

In the two months since Hermione had first asked about Draco’s friends, the two had been having more conversations about themselves. Draco told Hermione about her childhood and vice versa, they obviously had very different upbringings, but they found that in many ways they were very similar.

They were both very quick and meticulous thinkers, quite self-sufficient (although they both craved affectation and attention, in different ways) and quite level-headed but also passionate.

In that moment however, it didn’t matter how well they worked together, they couldn’t figure out what had been happening.

Changing the subject slightly, Hermione asked if anything was happening in Slytherin.

“There are a lot of theories being thrown around about who is opening the chamber of course, even within our house. Some people want to know so they can avoid them, and some want to know so they can request for special people to be petrified.” He answered, a little sarcastically.

Hermione was slightly horrified, “You would have thought all the Slytherins would be safe.”

“Not all of us are Purebloods, that’s a myth. A stupid myth at that, houses are based of traits, not blood status.”

“You’re right of course. I actually meant outside of the Chamber though, you mentioned Daphne a few weeks ago, how’s she doing?”

“Not too good.” Draco frowned, “She barely talks anymore and after every attack she just seems to get more and more jumpy. I think I need to talk to Professor Snape about it.”

Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise, “Why do you call him Professor Snape if he’s your godfather?”

“Two reasons; partly because I’m not supposed to be talking to him at the moment because my father sees him as a traitor to you-know-who and therefor all purebloods – I think he forgets that Snape is actually a halfblood – and partly because I only call him Sev when I’m talking to him. Why, what does Potter call him?”

“Severus most of the time, sometimes Sev. He won’t call him that in class, but around his friends he does, it’s a little odd to be honest, I’m still not used to it.”

“And I’m not used to the idea of my godfather being a dad. But if Potter only calls him Severus around his friends then why would you expect me to call him Severus around you? Do you consider us to be friends?”

Hermione blushed, “Not if you don’t want us to be.”

“No.” Draco smiled, “I like it. I like you, it’s a change from being around Crabbe and Goyle.”

“Are they actually as thick as they act?

“Yes, it’s in-breeding.”

“Excuse me?”

“To try and keep their families pure, pureblood supremacists will marry cousins and it reduces the intelligence and magical ability of the children but they’re too stupid to be told.”

“But you’re so smart.”

Now it was Draco’s turn to blush, “My family hasn’t gone beyond third cousins so we’re okay I guess.”

“Would you marry a cousin?”

“No, I think that disgusting. Especially if you don’t even love them, I don’t care what my father says. Although, he probably won’t be part of my life in a few years, so it won’t matter either way.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for starters, if you-know-who ever returns, which I think he will, I don’t want to be on the Dark side, but that’s the side my father will try and force me down, so I will have to run away with mother. But even if he doesn’t return until I’m old enough to run away, I still can’t make basic decisions such as marrying or even talking to whoever I want. He would kill me if he knew what we’d been doing for the past few months.”

Hermione looked at him sympathetically, “It must be hard, knowing that eventually you’re going to have to cut your father out of our life.”

Draco looked down at his hands, “Yes, we were never very close, but I love him. It will be very hard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has managed their transformations now!  
> So, I’ll go through them all with you :)
> 
> Hermione is an Osprey because they are beautiful and unique, with a fiery passion and lots of intelligence. Did I mention that they are beautiful?! They are also very precise birds who keep their eye on the goal when they need to.  
> I picked the name Iris mostly because of Sky Hawk (Gill Lewis), but that was publish in 2011, so Hermione wouldn’t know about it. Iris was messenger for the Greek gods, the name means rainbow also, which is just cute.
> 
> Ginny is a Shetland pony because they look cute but have a lot of sassy, perfect for her I would say. They are hardy little horses, that a good on rough terrain and have lots of intelligence and strength.
> 
> I picked the name Candy because it’s cute, not much other reason. It means bright.  
> Ron is a hare because they are not bothered about having loads of friends, their natural instinct is to run away from danger and because they just seem generally moody. I picked the name Floppy for some humour and because what’s a good sister for if not to pick on you?
> 
> Neville is a badger, not because I think he should be in Hufflepuff, but as a sign that he should be in Gryffindor. Badgers may look cute and cuddly, but they are masters or disguise, have lots of intelligence and will defend their homes and families to the last.  
> He is called Brock, mostly for the reason he stated, it is the old English name for a badger but also because of the book Cherry Tree Farm, by Enid Blyton, where there is a place called Brock woods.
> 
> Let me know what you think, both of my Animagus choices and of the story.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	7. A thousand miles from comfort [P3]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final attack, then Harry and Sev find the entrance to the chamber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't want the chamber to be open all year, and I other plans for the rest of the year, so here we are.  
> Enjoy :)

It was the last weekend before the Christmas Holidays and there hadn’t been any attacks in nearly a month. Hogwarts was still under tight security, with the students being escorted everywhere, and it was getting frustrating, especially for Harry and his friends who enjoyed their freedom.

Harry had been stuck in the common room all day, so when Severus came to collect him to spend the evening together, he was very relieved.

They were halfway down to the dungeons when Harry heard the rasping voice again.

“I can hear it! What shall we do?”

“We’ll follow it, then I’ll send a Patronus to the Headmaster, telling him what has happened. Now which way?”

Harry led him, listening out for the cold, harsh voice, until they carefully rounded a corner and came face to face with the still figure of Sophie Evans, who seemed to be staring into the huge mirror on the wall in front of her.

Harry gasped, he didn’t know the blood status of his Slytherin friends, but he just assumed them to be safe, he hadn’t realised any of them were muggleborns.

Severus didn’t seem quite as shocked, he was clearly aware of the muggleborns in his house, but he did seem understandably upset, an emotion Harry wasn’t quite used to seeing on his guardian’s face.

The Potions Master sent off his silvery Patronus, then levitated the poor girl up, propelling her towards the hospital wing. They walked in silence, both trying to comprehend what this meant for the school. Harry knew that there was little chance the school would remain open now.

They were nearly at the hospital wing, when a suit of armour stepped out in front of Harry, who didn’t have enough time to stop and so walked straight through it.

Apologising (it is never a good idea to get on the wrong side of a suit of armour) he tried to step around it, but it blocked his path again. Starting to panic, he tried to duck under its outstretched arm, but the arm came down on top of him with a mighty thud.

Trying to keep the images surfacing in his mind of his uncle from taking over, he shook his head, then stepped backwards and tried to dodge around the suit quicker. This time a leg popped out to trip him up and he lay flat on the ground panting.

Seeing Harry on the floor, Severus left the floating body and tried to pull his charge up, but the suit of armour grabbed hold of Harry’s other arm and tried to pull him away.

Knowing full well that he would not win a tug of war against the armour, Severus slackened his grip on Harry’s arm but didn’t let go so the teenager would know that he had no intentions of leaving him alone.

He pulled out his wand and tried to cast a full body bind, but it didn’t work. He tried a number of other spells, but none of them seemed to work, eventually he tried the only idea he had left. He sent a Reducto at the suit (he hadn’t wanted to destroy it but he didn’t have a choice) and watched as it disintegrated.

Then, he pulled Harry, who he could see was trying hard not to cry, into a hug, while rubbing soothing circles on his back.

“I’m proud of you Harry.” He whispered, “You didn’t let him get into your head and you didn’t just let him hurt you, I’m proud.”

He gave his charge one last squeeze, then led him into the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey patched him up in no time and then placed Sophie with the other petrified patients.

By the time she had finished, Dumbledore had appeared, and Harry heard him talking to Severus.

“We must send them home Albus, his is not safe.”

The old wizard nodded, “I will get the Hogwarts express to pick them up on Monday, they only had a week left before the holidays anyway. But I am not forcing anyone out who doesn’t want to go.”

Harry couldn’t help but ask, “Is Hogwarts closing, Sir?”

“It will have to if we have not found a solution to out problem by the end of the Christmas holidays, Harry.”

In the middle of the night, Harry awoke (Madam Pomfrey had insisted that he stay in the hospital wing for a night) to a strange noise. He put on his glasses, then had to muffle a scream as he saw Dobby the House-elf perched on the end of his bed.

“Dobby!” he whisper-shouted, “What are you doing here?”

“Dobby had to come, Sir. Dobby has tried everything he could to make Harry Potter to leave Hogwarts, but he is still here. It is too dangerous.”

“I know Dobby, most of the students are being sent home, but this is my home. Wait a minute, what do you mean, you’ve tried everything you can? Are you the one who locked me in my dormitory and set that suit of armour on me?!”

The elf looked up at him with huge guilty eyes, “And took your homework. But Dobby had to!”

Before Harry could answer, there was a noise outside the door and Dobby disappeared. No-one appeared, so Harry thought nothing off it and dozed off to sleep again.

* * *

The next day was mayhem; most of the school was packing up to leave, apart from Harry and his friends (excluding Hermione as they were forcing her to go home) and a few Slytherins from more prestigious pureblood families which meant that Draco, Daphne and their ‘friends’ were also staying.

Severus had a meeting that afternoon, Draco had expressed his concerns about Daphne’s behaviour, and he could see that something needed to be done.

There was a small knock on the door of his office, and it opened to reveal a somewhat pale looking Daphne, who had an expression like a deer caught in headlights.

He gestured to a chair, “Miss Greengrass. Please sit.”

He offered he water, which she took with a visibly shaking hand.

“There have been some concerns about you, Miss Greengrass, I wanted to ask you how you are coping at the moment.”

Daphne opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, she dropped her glass of water and slumped in her chair, eyes closed.

The Potions Master rushed around his desk and checked her over, it couldn’t immediately find what was wrong with the unconscious girl, so he picked her up and stepped into the fireplace, appearing in the hospital wing.

He explained to Poppy what had happened, and, after a quick exam, she told him that Daphne had severe magical and physical exhaustion and would not wake up until her cores had been regenerated.

Neither of them could work out the cause of the exhaustion, and by Christmas Eve (nearly a week later) they still hadn’t been able to figure it out.

It had been an odd week; Harry and his friends were sticking together (Luna had joined Ginny in her dormitory) and the Slytherins were all stuck together. No-one had much to do except play exploding snap or chess, which got a bit boring after a while.

Daphne’s parents had been to visit her a few times, but she still hadn’t woken up, in fact, Madam Pomfrey could not detect any improvement at all, which made the adults and Draco understandably worried.

Harry and his friends, as well as Severus, were sat in the hospital wing together, Severus was trying to figure out the problem with Daphne, while Harry and his friends were trying to figure out the chamber of secrets. Neither parties were getting very far, as they had no new information to go on.

In a last attempt to try and get some answers, Severus was searching through Daphne’s bag in the hopes of finding a clue.

“Sev?” Harry asked, “What do you know about the girl who died last time?”

“Not much,” replied Severus distractedly, “Just that her name was Myrtle Warren and she was found in the bathroom.” He found a diary, with a black cover, but when he opened it, it was blank.

Just as he realised this must have been the diary Draco told him about all those months ago, Harry distracted him.

“Myrtle? As in Moaning Myrtle?”

“What are you getting at Harry?”

“We can ask Moaning Myrtle how she died!”

Severus threw the diary down on the bed and stood up in excitement.

“If you think it’s the same person then there’s not harm in trying, which one is her bathroom?”

Ginny started to lead the way, but as they passed an empty classroom, they heard the sounds of sobbing.

“Wait!” cried Ginny, “That sounds like her!”

She opened the door and they all trooped inside to be met by the sight of a silvery ghost, dressed in Hogwarts uniform, sobbing noisily as she floated around the room.

“Hi, Myrtle.” Ventured Ginny.

“What do _you_ want?” asked the ghost rudely.

“We came to ask how you died.”

Myrtle’s expression changed at once, she looked as though she had never been asked a more flattering question.

“I was in my bathroom, crying, and I heard someone come in. They had something funny, I didn’t think it was English, but it sounded like a boy, so I opened my cubicle to tell him to find a different toilet, then I died.” She answered matter of factly.

“How?” asked Harry.

“I’m not sure. I just saw a pair of large yellow eyes, my body seized up, and then I was floating away…”

Harry looked at Severus, who was muttering to himself.

“See’s eyes then dies, only Harry can hear it, strange language, petrification. That’s it! The creature is a basilisk!”

“What’s a basilisk?”

“A rare type of snake, it kills by looking, and has extremely dangerous venom!”

“But no-one has died.”

“If you see the reflection, you only get petrified, you don’t die. The Gryffindor had a camera, the Hufflepuff must have seen it through the camera. Miss Evans was stood in front of a giant mirror, but what about Filch?” he frowned.

“There was water on the floor that day.” Commented Ginny, “I bet Filch only saw the reflection in the water.”

Severus nodded, looking at the floor, then he looked up at Myrtle, “Can you show me where you saw the eyes?”

The ghost nodded, then led them out of the door and up to the corridor where the writing had first appeared on the wall.

They were about to enter the bathroom, when Neville pointed up at the words with a shaking hand. A new line had appeared under the first, it read:

**Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.**

Harry’s blood when cold, hardly registering when his guardian started to bark out orders.

“Mr and Miss Weasley, go to the Headmasters office, tell him to gather the children and that an unknown female student has been taken down into the chamber. Hurry! The rest of you are with me.”

He led the way into the bathroom and asked Myrtle to point to where she saw the eyes, which was near a sink that had apparently never worked.

Severus and Harry stepped forward to see that there was a small snake on the tap. They tried twisting it, but it didn’t work.

“It probably needs Parseltongue.” Commented Luna.

Harry looked at the small snake and hissed, “ _Open.”_

With a slight grating noise, a hole opened up beneath the sink, just big enough to slide down, and they all gaped at it.

“You three, go to Dumbledore’s office, I’m going down. If there’s a student down there, they might not be alive much longer.”

Harry gulped in fear but argued, “You need me to come with you.”

“I don’t.” snapped Severus, “I’m not putting you in any more danger.”

“I doubt the only time you need parseltongue is here, you will need me.”

The Potions Master considered it for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“We don’t really have choice. You two go.”

Luna and Neville ran off, leaving Severus and Harry to slide down the tunnel, which was weirdly smooth and clean.

When they reached the end of the slide, they found themselves in front of a circular door, about six feet across. It had four exquisitely carved stone snakes, which each had jewels for eyes and were wrapped around the hinge of the door, then spread out at equal intervals across the circle.

Harry commanded the door to open and the four snakes moved together, as if unlocking the door, which then opened, revealing a circular tunnel with white and gold marble walls.

Severus led the way, warning Harry that if he thought he saw any movement at all, to close his eyes.

After a few minutes of walking, they emerged into a chamber that was about thirty feet by fifteen feet and made entirely of black and gold marble.

There were marble pillars running in two rows down the length of the chamber, and on the other side of these pillars (against the two longest walls) there was a wide ledge that was the perfect height for sitting on, also made of marble.

After they had been looking around the chamber of a few seconds, both of them saw a small figure who was lying, unmoving, on the floor in the centre of the room.

They carefully moved towards it and Harry realised with a gasp that it was Daphne Greengrass.

Severus shook her lightly but a voice to the side of them called out softly.

“She won’t wake.”

“Who are you?” Severus asked harshly.

“At this age, Tom Marvolo Riddle.”

“What are you?”

“A mere memory.”

Riddle explained how he had been the one to open the chamber fifty years ago, but he had been forced to stop by the danger of the school closing. Not wanting his hard work to go to waste he had created the diary; which Daphne had been writing in all year.

After she had written in it for a while, pouring her soul into it, he was able to put a little bit of himself back into her, forcing her to open the chamber and release the monster on the muggleborns.

He explained that he was forced to bring her down here, because the school was once again being closed and the little girl’s magic was too weak to be used any longer. He had taken the little that was left to create himself a new body and was waiting for the girl to die.

“If there was a Parseltongue at the school fifty years ago, they would have been known.” Stated Severus bluntly.

Riddle smiled, “Oh, but I was known. I was known as the greatest wizard of all time, until a baby destroyed me.” He lifted his wand and spelt his name in the air, before rearranging the letters to spell ‘I am Lord Voldemort’.

“In that case, I’m glad I destroyed you.” Said Harry defiantly.

“You?” Riddle laughed incredulously, “It wasn’t you who destroyed me.”

“You tried to kill me as a baby, I am Harry Potter.”

Riddles eyes widened and flashed red, “And tell me, how did you do that? The longer you talk, the longer you live.”

“My mother sacrificed herself for me.” Harry answered shortly.

“I see.” Riddle’s eyes flashed again, “So there is nothing special about you. I thought as much, it was fluke that saved you from me. Well, I will not make the same mistake twice. _Come, Slytherins beast.”_ He hissed.

“He’s calling the Basilisk!” Harry shouted to his guardian.

“Keep your eyes shut until I tell you!” roared Severus.

There was a jet of light from a spell and Harry squeezed his eyes closed, there was a wail of “My _eyes, my eyes_!”

Then he heard Riddles cry of fury, _“No! You can still smell them, sniff them out, kill them_!”

Harry took that as reassurance that it was safe to open his eyes, and did, only to see a twenty-foot-long snake, about a foot in diameter, with mouldy green scales, crusty eyes and large fangs that had venom dripping off them.

“We need to shoot Diffindo is his mouth!” shouted Severus, who was a few metres away.

At the sound, the basilisk flicked its tail, sending Severus flying across the room into the far wall, which he then slid down, unconscious.

Trying desperately not to cry out or make a sound, Harry pulled Daphne to the edge of the room, before turning to face the basilisk again.

 _“Come to me.”_ He hissed, and when the great snake opened his mouth in a roar, he shot as many Diffindos as he could into it.

The basilisk fell with a howl of pain and Riddle gave a roar of fury. Without thinking, Harry grabbed the diary off the floor and jammed it into one of the fangs of the basilisk.

Ink spurted everywhere, as did blood from the snake and soon Harry was covered in both, but he could see that Riddle was being destroyed, so he opened to diary and jammed the fang into again.

Riddle disappeared with a scream and, on the far side of the chamber, Daphne stirred slightly.

Harry ran over to her and helped her up wordlessly, then made led her over to where Severus was lying.

He was till breathing, but clearly wasn’t going to wake up, so Harry tried his best to levitate him off the ground. It worked well enough to carry him, but his fingertips were grazing the floor.

Harry led the way back through the tunnel, assuring Daphne that they knew everything that had happened and that she wasn’t going to be in trouble. She didn’t quite seem to believe him, but he didn’t know how to convince her otherwise.

When they got back to the entrance to the tunnel, he sealed the serpent door and asked the slide for some steps, which they then climbed up. They emerged at the top to find all of the teaching staff gathered.

Madam Pomfrey took both Severus and Daphne to the hospital wing, and Harry explained to Dumbledore everything that happened as they followed at a slower pace.

When they arrived, the Headmaster assured Daphne that there would be no punishment and that her parents would be arriving soon. Harry went to talk to Severus, who was now awake, and his guardian told him that he was very proud.

Harry’s friends were also in the hospital wing, except for Ron, he asked where he was and Ginny told him that Ron had managed to fall down a full flight of stairs and crack his head open, but that he was going to be okay.

Dumbledore left to inform to board of governors and parents that the problem had been solved and everyone else sat down for a well-deserved rest.

The day next, which was Christmas day, Daphne, Severus and Ron were all still in the hospital wing (they had been told they were only allowed to leave for Christmas dinner).

Severus was dozing, but Ron was wide awake, he was thinking about how typical it was for a pureblood Slytherin to be the one who was opening the chamber. Suddenly he heard the sound of quiet sobbing.

When it didn’t stop, he carefully (his head still hurt a bit) got out of bed and quietly went to investigate. The sobbing seemed to be coming from the bed of Daphne Greengrass and when Ron poked his head around the curtain, he saw her curled up under her duvet, with a pitiful look on her face.

He considered just leaving her, after all, she had nearly killed countless people, whether she meant to or not, but he thought about how he would react if it were Ginny there instead and carefully sat in the armchair next to the bed.

“Are you alright?” he asked softly.

Daphne jumped, having not noticed him, then quickly wiped her eyes and tried to but a superior look on her face.

“Of course, I’m alright.”

“It’s okay to not be alright, you know? You’ve been through a lot.”

The superior expression cracked and vanished, and tears welled up in her eyes again.

“Crying is a sigh of weakness.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean it illegal.” Ron joked.

Daphne gave him a weak smile.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked her.

She considered it for a moment, before giving him a cautious nod and starting to talk about everything that had happened since the start of the year.

Severus lay in his bed on the other side of the curtain, listening to the Snake and Lion talking.

“Huh, miracles do happen.” He mused, before rolling over and falling back into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I completely revamped the chamber, there is a reason for that, and all will become clear at some point.  
> I went with Daphne to show that 'even purebloods' can be taken in by powerful and dangerous magical artefacts.  
> Let me know your thoughts.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	8. A thousand miles from comfort [P4]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Year's Eve, dress robe shopping and three important meetings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little bitty, sorry about that.  
> For context within this chapter, I intend to have it that fifth, sixth and seventh years all attend a ball each year.  
> Enjoy :)

The Christmas holidays were much more enjoyable after the threat of the Chamber had been eliminated. By New Year’s Eve, all those who had been in the hospital wing were discharged and Harry found that he could really get into the holiday spirt, even if it was a few days too late.

They had a New Year’s Eve party, with all the students who had remained at school (and Hermione, who flooed in especially) as well as all of the professors, in the Great Hall.

Halfway through the evening, Draco pulled Hermione off to the side to talk to her. He took a dep breath to prepare himself.

“I think we need to initiate the next step of the plan.”

“Really?” asked Hermione in surprise.

“Yes. There’s a new element we hadn’t accounted for.”

“Which is?”

“Daphne. She’s not doing well, not that she would admit it, and she needs good friends around her. Not only that, I wouldn’t put it past the others to take advantage and brainwash her, I need to get her away.”

Hermione was silent for a moment, “What will you do about your dad?” she asked quietly.

“Well, I’ve given it some thought and there’s only one way to dissolve a marriage in the wizarding world, and that’s if the head of the lady’s household commands it.”

“But what house is your mother from?”

“Black. Sirius Black is her cousin.”

“Oh. I should really read up on pureblood families.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s depressing, although you might find it helpful. Anyway, my mother would have to go to him and plead with him, but he might turn around and throw it in our faces if he doesn’t trust us.”

“Get her to request a meeting, here, on Saturday. I can be there and explain what’s happened because I’m coming back to school on Saturday instead of Sunday like everyone else. Your mother will be able to get away from your father for a few hours, won’t she?”

“It should be possible, I’ll owl her later.”

“Good. Now does Daphne have any problems with her parents?”

“Not really, they might be displeased when she drops all of the Slytherins, but in the end they want her to be happy.” Draco replied, a little bitterly, “Now, how are we going to get your lot to go along with this?”

“We’ll wait until after the meeting on Saturday. If all goes well, I’ll talk to them on Sunday. Ron is the only one who might pose a problem, he doesn’t forgive easily. You do realise that you’re going to have to apologise to all of them?”

Draco hung his head, “I’m aware.”

“That’s okay then. One last thing. How are you going to persuade Daphne to join us?”

“It would seem she has actually had a few conversations with Weasley already, he you seen that they smile at each other now?”

“Really? I can’t believe I didn’t notice that. I mean, Daphne is very discrete, I sure, but Ron is definitely not known for his discretion.”

Draco snorted, making Hermione laugh; he shook his head, “I’d better go and write a letter.”

As Draco walked off, Harry called Hermione over.

“I have a New Year’s Present for everyone.” He explained, pulling six small mirrors out of his pocket.

“These are communication mirrors, apparently the marauders all had them, so Sirius helped me to charm these. All you have to do is say the name of the person you want to call, and their mirror will vibrate. You’ll be able to see the person in the mirror instead of yourself.”

He handed one to each other them.

“Wow Harry, this is amazing!” exclaimed Ginny.

Hermione added, “You’ll have to show me how you charmed them later.”

“Sure.” Harry nodded, “I was thinking that tomorrow we might go around different parts of the castle and try them out. We made it so that if you try and call someone who is already using their mirror, your mirror will vibrate.”

 ** _That is a thoughtful gift, little one,_** Elpis told him.

As Harry waiting for the new year to roll in, he couldn’t help but smile at the fact he was spending time with all the people that mattered most to him. It was also kind of sad in a way, but he couldn’t quite explain it, his life had changed so much in a year.

He had a true family now - even if it was a little mismatched - and plenty of friends.

When twelve chimed, he was stood with his guardian, smiling up at him and wishing him Happy New Year. Severus even gave him a hug and a smile, whispering that taking him in was the best decision he had ever made.

Harry smiled back, and in that moment, he realised that he wanted Severus Snape to be his father.

Little did he know, that in the same moment, Severus realised that he wanted Harry Potter to be his son.

* * *

Hermione stood in the entrance hall, nervously waiting for Draco and his mother to arrive. She was trying to convince herself that this wasn’t a big deal, she was just meeting a friend’s mother.

But this felt different, she wanted to make a good impression, which she knew would be quite difficult when she knew nothing about the upper classes.

Plus, there was more at stake here; none of her other friend’s mothers were trying to separate from their politically powerful husbands.

Suddenly Draco appeared around the corner wearing beautifully tailored green and silk robes that made Hermione gape slightly.

He didn’t seem to notice as he ushered her into a side room she had never been into before. It looked like it had been a classroom once, but it had no desks or chairs, only a dressing screen, two chairs and a full-length mirror.

In one of the chairs was sat someone who could only Draco’s mother, as she had the same silvery blonde hair and high eyebrows. She was wearing exquisite lilac robes that had a silver leaf pattern embroidered on to it, and her hair was swept of her face in a flawless and complicated looking braid.

Narcissa rose to greet them as they approached, and she gave Hermione a quick kiss of each cheek.

“Miss Granger.” She smiled.

“Lady Malfoy.” Hermione replied with a sweet smile of her own, while silently thanking Draco for giving her a few pureblood etiquette tips.

“Call me Narcissa, please. I wanted to thank you for helping us today, and I thought, what better thank you gift than a set of dress robes?!”

“Oh, I am happy to help. You really don’t need to get me any dress robes though.” Hermione faltered.

“Nonsense dear, there’s not much I love more than clothes.”

“She’s not kidding.” Draco huffed in Hermione’s ear, causing her to giggly slightly.

Narcissa’s eyes sparkled and she grabbed the first option.

“Now, I have a few different one’s for you to try on. But I’m saving the best for last.” She winked, “Try this one on now.”

She handed Hermione a set of dusty pink robes with silver trim to try on - pink definitely wasn’t her favourite colour, but she thought she may as well try them.

When she emerged a few minutes later, she had to admit that they were beautifully made and hugged her slim figure while still being loose fitting. After twirling in front of the mirror for a few minutes, Narcissa gave her the next option; a set of deep midnight robes with black details.

She loved the shade of blue, but she felt that, combined with black, they made her look very pale and Narcissa agreed with her, so handed her the final set of robes.

These were red, with a gold leave design embroidered onto them and they looked perfect with both her skin tone and hair. Swirling happily in front of the mirror, Hermione saw a slight blush creeping onto Draco’s face.

“What do you think?” she asked him with a coy smile.

“Beautiful.” He announced while his mother sniggered slightly at the blush.

“I think we have found the one we were looking for! I had a feeling it might be this one, that’s why I saved it for last. Now for the hair!”

A stool appeared and Hermione sat on it while Narcissa carefully smoothed her hair into a braided crown. While she worked, they chatted; Narcissa telling embarrassing stories about Draco as a little boy while he blushed and Hermione laughed, very relieved that neither of her parents were there.

After about twenty minutes, Narcissa announced that she was finished, and she gave Hermione a mirror so she could see.

“It’s beautiful!”

“You sound surprised, dear.” Quipped Narcissa with a laugh.

Hermione smiled awkwardly, “I’m just not used to my hair looking so good.”

“Well it looks wonderful now. You know, when the time comes, I’d love to take you robe shopping for the balls!” her eyes sparkled.

“That would be wonderful!”

Sirius Black was in a side chamber to the Great Hall, a room with beautiful stone pillars and intricately carved wood panelled walls. There was a marble top round table in the middle of the room, with eight ornate chairs surrounding it, next to which he was stood.

After he had been waiting a few minutes, the door opened and Narcissa Malfoy entered, as she got closer, Sirius noticed that each of her upper arms displayed a house crest, one side Malfoy, the other side Black, and following behind her were two teenagers.

Sirius bowed to Narcissa, kissing her hand, before nodding at the boy, who he saw was Draco. He then turned to the girl, who he noted with surprise was Hermione Granger. She looked a little awkward as he bowed and kissed her hand, but she smiled at him anyway.

He ushered them into seats around the table and asked them if they required anything, when they said that they did not, he thought it best to just get on with it.

“Lady Malfoy, when you arranged this meeting, you did not share your reasons for requesting a meeting, would you like to now?”

Narcissa took a deep breath, “I want to leave the House of Malfoy.”

Sirius was surprised, “And what is your reasoning for this?”

“When the Dark Lord returns, my husband will try and force us to the side of the Dark. I do not want my son to be forced down that path.”

“I see. What specifically are you asking me for?”

“I would like you to dissolve the marriage between myself and Lord Malfoy, then protect both myself and my son from him.”

Sirius thought for a moment, “It was my plan for the new year to meet with each member of the Black family, I intended to welcome Andromeda, her husband and child into the family, while banishing Bellatrix from it. I had not yet decided what to do with you. However, I have yet to hear any proof that you do not intend to stab the House of Black in the back.”

“You think I would risk leaving my son fatherless just to ruin family who has never wronged me?” asked Narcissa, making Sirius squirm uncomfortably. “Fortunately, we foresaw this particular problem, Miss Granger volunteered to come with us today, I believe she had something to say.”

Narcissa nodded at Hermione with a reassuring smile. Hermione went on to explain what had happened between herself, Severus and Draco at the start of the year, Sirius found it quite surprising but took it as the evidence he needed.

“Very well, Miss Grangers eloquent words have convinced me. When do you wish I carry this plan out?”

“As soon as me and my son have a safe place to go.”

“How would you feel about the Black family London house. I currently live there; however, I am moving out in a few months. I am willing to let you reside in it, re-decorate it however you wish – I trust you to ensure it is tasteful – and as such you will under my protection. If needed I can even place it under the Fidelius charm.”

“That is very gracious, I thank you. In that case, I believe that the best time to proceed would be the day Draco is set to come home for the summer holidays, I can meet him off the train and we can meet with you at Gringotts How does that sound?”

“Perfect, Lady Malfoy.”

“I thank you, Lord Black.”

They stood and Sirius pulled Narcissa into a quick hug.

“I’ve missing having a cousin.” He whispered.

Narcissa smiled, then began to walk about with Draco and Hermione in toe, but Sirius called Hermione back.

Draco and Narcissa stood in the corner of the Great Hall, waiting for her.

“I know this is hard, Mother, but it’s the right thing for both of us.”

“It is, Dragon. We’re just lucky to have such a quick young lady on our side.”

She smirked as her son blushed, “We don’t come much better than that.”

“Mother!”

Meanwhile back in the side chamber, Hermione was talking to Sirius.

“We can’t tell anyone about this, Lucius can’t find out.”

“I know Hermione, but does Draco understand that his friends in Slytherin may go against him?”

“That’s partly what he wants, Sirius.”

“To have no friends?”

“He will have friends; I plan to introduce him and Daphne to my friends.”

Sirius raised his eyebrows, “Harry friends with Draco? Pigs might fly.”

“Pigs can fly if you use a levitation charm on them and actually, they aren’t as dissimilar as you think. They could be good friends; they would already have been if Draco wasn’t jealous of Harry’s fame. But remember, you can’t tell anyone about this. I’m introducing the two of them to everyone properly tomorrow.”

“Very well. I have a staff meeting to get to, so I’ll see you around. By the way Hermione, where did the dress robes come from?”

“Narcissa, she insisted.”

“She’s like that. I’m sure you impressed Draco.”

Hermione flushed as red as her robes and swatted him on the arm.

“Don’t be absurd.”

* * *

Concurrently to the meeting between Sirius and Narcissa, Severus was meeting with Lucius in an effort to stay on his good side – for now, as it would make it easier – and try to grant Harry’s wish of freeing Dobby.

At first, Lucius was stiff and cautious, barely sipping his tea, telling Severus that he was going to have to tread carefully during this conversation.

“You look uncomfortable Lucius, why is that?”

“I am sitting to tea with a traitor, I do not want to be punished in the same way that you will be.”

“Are you? Who says I am a traitor to the Dark Lord?”

“You have adopted Harry Potter! You show public affection for him and that clearly marks you as against your Master.”

“Unless I have done this for my Master?” Severus began to spin his tale, “I will be worshiped beyond all others when it is revealed that I can bring him the boy.”

Lucius looked thoughtful, “That is true. I am glad of this, you have been a true friend to Narcissa over the years, and you are a good godfather to my son.”

“Does this mean I am allowed to speak to my godson again?”

“You have been speaking to him all year, Severus, you do not fool me.”

“Only in a Head of House capacity, Draco respected your wishes.”

Lucius inclined his head, “I am glad to hear it.”

Taking a sip of his drink, Severus continued, “Now onto why I am here. You have a problem that I wish to solve for you.”

“I do?”

“Yes, it would appear that your servant, Dobby, will prove a problem for you. The Potter brat has told me of Dobby trying to warn him against being at Hogwarts, that something bad was going to happen; it is only a matter of time until he is traced back to you.”

Lucius snarled a little, looking angry and apprehensive, “You said that you had a plan to solve this problem?”

“I wish to take him off your hands.”

“But how will that solve the problem? Surely you will just be blamed instead of him, and, while I would like to think that you would do that for me, I know you would not.”

“I will not be accused; I am under the protected of the fool Dumbledore because he is convinced of my loyalty. I have been wanting a personal servant for a while, and this elf will do nicely.”

After a moment’s consideration, Lucius nodded his head, “Very well. Dobby.”

The small elf appeared, cowering a little and Lucius sneered at it, “I have no further need for you, Elf. You will have a new master in Severus Snape, I hope you work better for him than you did for me.”

“I has a new master?”

“That is what I said, Elf.”

Dobby looked surprised and a little delighted as he snapped his fingers, transferring the elf bond, then awaiting instruction from his new master.

“Go to my rooms at Hogwarts and wait for me there.” Severus ordered, watching the elf disappear with a crack before turning to Lucius, “I am afraid I must take my leave; lesson plans do not write themselves.”

He grimaced and Lucius let out a small chuckle, “I do not understand why you stay there.”

“I do not have your money or political standing to escape justice, I need the protection of the old fool to escape Azkaban, and teaching is preferable to Azkaban, if marginally.”

With a short bow, he stepped through the floo and appeared in his rooms at Hogwarts, greeted by an obediently waiting House-elf.

“Dobby, I want you to know that I will never punish you in the same way that Lord Malfoy did. I intend to treat you with the respect you deserve. I have very little work for you here, as I already have an elf, so I am sending you down to the kitchens for now, although I wish for you to answer to both me and Harry.”

“I will answer to both Master Snape and Master Harry Potter, Sir. Thank you for allowing me to work for you.” Dobby thanked him gratefully, tears filling his eyes, before he disappeared with another crack, leaving Severus to roll his eyes slightly at the dramatic nature of House-elves.

* * *

After the staff meeting, the Headmaster asked Severus, Sirius, Remus and Minerva into his office. Once they were all there, he ushered them into armchairs around the fire and began to talk.

“I have asked you here to discuss with you the events regarding the Chamber of Secrets.” He began, “I feel that we must discuss the diary itself. Does anyone have anything to say about it?”

There was a moment pause, before Remus spoke up, “Only that I, for one, have never seen anything like it. Not only did it possess Miss Greengrass, it drained her magic to bring Riddle back to life.”

Dumbledore suddenly looked old and worn, “You’re right, Remus. That diary didn’t just contain a memory of Tom Riddle, in fact, if I’m correct it held a piece of his soul. The diary was a horcrux.”

“That would explain why he didn’t die when the curse backfired on him.” Commented Minerva.

“But the diary has been destroyed, he’s mortal now.” Added Sirius

“I would like to think so, but alas, I doubt it. I do not believe that Voldemort would have left his diary in Lucius’ hands if it was his only horcrux. I’m sure that there is at least one, possibly more, still out there. And they will all be heavily protected.”

There was a stunned silence and everyone in the room felt a little bit sick.

“You think he split his soul more than twice?”

“I’m afraid it is a distinct possibility. I plan to start finding the pieces, but I will first need to do some research into Voldemort’s childhood, I think that will help me to find them.”

“We can help you, if you need help.” Offered Sirius, while the others nodded.

“Thank you, I may well take you up on that when the time comes.” He paused for a moment before continuing quietly, “I would prefer it if you do not tell Harry any of this yet, I do not think he is ready. Although it is, of course, your decision.”

He looked at Severus, who nodded his head in thanks at the respect for his wishes.

“Was there anything else you wished to discuss?”

“I do not believe so.”

“Perfect, Harry is expecting me shortly. I meant to ask; did you want anything from the basilisk? We are going to harvest it tomorrow.”

“A few fangs, thank you. Believe they will destroy any horcruxes we find.”

Before Severus could replied McGonagall queried.

“We?”

“Yes we, me and Harry.”

“Is it quite safe?”

“No, I’m taking a thirteen-year-old into an unsafe situation on purpose.”

Minerva fixed him with her ‘don’t you talk back to me’ expression and it took all of his strength to not roll his eyes.

“It’s perfectly safe.” He answered, he stood up and began to move towards the door, then called over his shoulder, “To tell you the truth, it doesn’t look at all like the lair of an evil wizard or dangerous monster.”

Behind him he left four people, wondering what on earth he was getting at.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added some more scenes into this chapter, for example the robe scene with Narcissa, but I thought it was adorable!  
> This chapter and the next one were supposed to be one, but they both ended up being really long (for how much I usually write) separately, let alone together. That does mean that the next chapter is already almost finished and should be uploaded today!  
> Let me know your thoughts.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	9. Find our inner peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip down into the chamber, where there are some surprises in store, and Hermione bring some Snakes to the Lions' (and one eagle) den.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really excited to write this one, it will have a big effect on the events later on.  
> Enjoy :)

The next morning, Severus woke up Harry (it was a Saturday, so he had slept in their joint quarters) at seven o’clock.

“Come and have some breakfast Harry, I need your help with something this morning.”

Harry came out of his room, still in his pyjamas and yawning.

“What are we doing?”

“I want to go and harvest the Basilisk as there are many valuable parts to it, but I also want to see if there are any more rooms down there.”

“Sounds exiting, when do you want to leave?”

“In half an hour.”

By eight o’clock, they were at the entrance to the Chamber. Harry hissed for the door to open, and they slid down the tunnel together.

Once they were at the bottom, Harry got a better look at the door; he noticed that each of the four snakes had different coloured gems for their eyes, one had red, another green, the third yellow, and the fourth green.

As he gave the password, each of the eyes seemed to flicker as if in candlelight, even though there were no candles down there. Harry and his guardian entered the tunnel and began to walk down it in silence.

They immerged out the other end, and Harry stopped in shock; the pillar that the basilisk had taken out the week before was intact again.

He pointed it out to Severus, “How do you think that happened? No-one else has been down here.”

“It must have been the castle.”

“The castle?”

“Yes, when the castle gets damaged, it fixes itself. Not many people know about it, and we would like to keep it that way, but it has something to do with the magic the founders put on the castle. They almost made it sentient, but no-one really understands it.”

As he spoke, he moved towards the body of the basilisk and began to harvest it, placing everything in the bottomless bag he had brought with him, meanwhile, Harry looked around the Chamber.

“What do you think this place actually is?” he asked, “It doesn’t look a place built for a monster.”

“No, it looks more like a duelling platform.” Commented Severus.

“But no-one was supposed to know about this place, so he wouldn’t have anyone to duel, plus – according to the legend – the Chamber was built specifically for the basilisk.”

“Well, maybe it’s just that. A legend, maybe he didn’t build it to hold a monster.”

“The question is, why else would he build it?”

As he was talking, Harry was walking atop the ledge that ran along the right-hand wall of the Chamber. He reached the end and was about to hop off when he saw a door concealed in the shadows, it was made of black wood and looked quite ordinary.

“Hey Sev, there’s a door here.” He called.

“Is there? Well, you have a look if there are any others, then when I’m finished here, we can see what’s through there.”

Harry nodded and began to walk along the ledge that ran against the other wall in the hopes of finding a similar door. He reached the end and didn’t find anything, so headed back to with his guardian was stood, while trying not to look at the basilisk corpse.

As he reached him, Severus stood, washed his hands, and put the bag over his shoulders.

“There’s a lot of good stock there, you should get quite a bit of money.”

“Me?” asked Harry in surprise.

“Yes, did I forget to tell you? Any money made from the harvesting of the beast goes to the one who slayed it.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that.”

“Well now you do. Shall we go and find that door?”

Harry led the way over to the door, in the far corner, and waiting while Severus cast some spells.

“It seems to be safe, there’s no dark magic around it.” He reached out a hand a cautiously touched the door handle, when nothing happened, he began to turn it and it opened smoothly.

They both stepped through, with Severus leading, and as soon as they entered, the room was flooded with light from two raised firepits that stretched along the two longest walls.

This room was much more modest than the last; it was only about three foot by five foot, with slabbed floors and stone walls. There were only two odd things in the otherwise very boring room.

The first was an odd little pit, in the very centre of the room, that had low stone walls – a little bit like a well – but was full of dirt. There didn’t seem to be anything special about it, except on the top of four of the stones that made up the low wall there were runes.

Severus pointed to each of the four in turn, “That one means fire, that one is water, this is earth and that is air.”

“The four elements? I’ve never heard of them in a magical setting before, I thought they were just something muggles made up to sell books.”

“No, they’re real, just extremely uncommon. The only person I have ever known to be able to use a loose form of elemental magic is the Dark Lord, he had a bit of water control.”

The two off them circled around the pit and moved towards the second odd thing in the room: the four doors on the far wall, each of which had a painting on it.

Each of the paintings were about one foot by two feet and had walnut frames, all with beautiful animals and leaves carved in great detail around them.

On the frame of the painting to the far left there were carved Lions and Bay leaves and the painting itself was off a middle-aged man, with flowing hair and beard and fiery brown eyes, dressed in rich red robes with gold trim. In his hand he clutched a sword with a bright red stone in the hilt.

The next frame along was decorated with badgers and had vines woven around it. The painting depicted a kindly woman, with beautifully braided hair and a round face, who was wearing sun yellow robes with black trim. In her hand she held a golden goblet that showed a scene of a badger playing in long grass.

The third frame had oak leaves and eagles carved into it and displayed a painting of a slim woman with waist length, jet black hair, who was wearing elegant robes of deep blue with bronze trim and medieval style bell sleeves; on her head was a beautiful diadem, made in the shape of an eagle with a midnight blue stone set in the centre.

The fourth and final frame was decorated with blackthorns and had snakes wound around it; it held a portrait of a man with neck length, black hair, a pointy beard and a stern look in his eyes. The man was dressed in exquisite green robes with silver trim and around his neck was a silver locket with the Slytherin crest.

The two looked at the beautiful, unmoving portraits in awe, then Severus spoke.

“They must be the four founders.” He pointed to each in turn, “Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin.”

On each of the doors, just above the paintings, was a rune, the same runes as were on the stones around the dirt pit. The rune above Gryffindor’s painting was fire, above Hufflepuff was earth, above Ravenclaw was air and above Slytherin was water.

In the small space between the top of the doors and the ceiling, were another set of runes, this time a long line of them. Severus said that they roughly translated to ‘Enter those who are worthy’.

“Do you think that means we can only open the door that has the wizard who is founder of our house?” wondered Harry

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Severus stepped forward and placed his hand on the door (none of them seemed to have handles) that held Salazar Slytherin’s painting.

It swung open to reveal a room that was semi-circular and entirely lined with walnut bookshelves which were crammed full of old books. In the middle of the room there was a sizeable desk and chair, with a small stool next to them, all made of walnut wood.

They both stepped into the room and carefully looked around.

“This must have been Salazar Slytherin’s private study.” Commented Severus

On the desk, there were a series of books dated from the nine hundreds which seemed to be Slytherins personal diaries and the books on the shelves seemed to be on topics such as spell crafting, potions, politics, legilimens and even water magic.

“I don’t want to take these books away, but I want to look through them all.”

“Do you think we’ll be allowed to copy them?” asked Harry.

Severus carefully picked up one of the diaries from the table and waved his wand at it. A second later he was holding two.

“It would appear you can. I’ll make a separate library in our quarters and put them all there, then we can look through them whenever we want.”

“Can you make it somewhere I can use it too, please.”

The Potions Master nodded, carefully copying every book, then placing the copy in his bottomless bag.

Harry moved out of the room and walked towards the portrait of Godric Gryffindor. He looked at the painting for a few seconds before putting his hand on the door, it opened to reveal a room not unlike Slytherins, but about three feet square, with a vaulted ceiling, bricked bookcases and bricked furniture.

Upon closer inspection, Harry saw that the books were on topics such as duelling, defence against the dark arts, transfiguration and fire magic. He was just about to look at the diaries on the desk when Severus called out.

“Harry?”

“I’m in Gryffindor’s study.” He replied, turning to face the doorway that his guardian appeared in seconds later.

Severus opened his mouth to speak but before he got a chance he was thrown out of the room by an unseen force. Harry ran out after him to check he was alright, which he was, just a little shaken.

“Clearly if you’re not from that house you can’t go in.” he chuckled, but Harry frowned.

“I was able to walk into Slytherin’s study though.”

“Well, the runes don’t actually say you have to be from the house, just that you have to be ‘worthy’ clearly I’m not up to Gryffindor’s standards.” He chuckled again and stood up, “Do you want me to show you the duplicating spell?”

“Yes please, do you think you’ll be able to read the books if I copy them?”

“Maybe let’s see.”

Harry copied one of the books and carried it outside two Severus, who carefully took it off him. Nothing happened, so he tried to open the book, but the pages seemed to be stuck together. Harry took the book off him and opened it.

“Clearly not. How about you copy these, and then we can try the other doors.”

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to go through the others, the Sorting Hat only mentioned Gryffindor and Slytherin. Although it did tell me I had ‘not a bad mind’ so I don’t know.” Harry replied as he began copying the books.

Twenty minutes later, all the books from Gryffindor’s study were copied and placed in the bag, so Harry joined Severus in the other room again.

He moved towards the painting of Ravenclaw, looking at it for a moment before putting his hand on the door. To his surprise, it opened, revealing a room with glass light fixtures that caught the light and tossed it at odd angles into strange directions, creating interesting shadows on the walls.

Walking into the room, he noticed that this one had a few blue and bronze armchairs off to one side, as well as the glass desk and chair. He motioned for Severus to try and enter, but when the Potions Master passed his hand across the doorway, it bounced back, not allowing him entry.

Severus shrugged, “I had a little bit of hope for this one, as I feel I identify most with Ravenclaw after Slytherin, but I guess it’s not to be.”

Harry nodded, and started to copy books, noting that they were on topics such as charms, occlumency, runes, air magic and even a book on how to build pensives that seemed to have been written by Rowena herself.

When he had finished, he took one last look around the room before moving onto the next one. Once again, he looked at the painting for a moment before putting his hand on the door. It opened and revealed a circular room, with a wooden beamed ceiling and bookcases and furniture made of a honey coloured wood.

This room seemed the cosiest of the three, it had a cluster of armchairs around a large fireplace and it had a more homely feel to it. As before, Severus couldn’t enter, so Harry started to copy the books by himself, noting that they were on topics such as herbology, care of magical creatures, healing, earth magic and even a few recipe books.

He left the room and the door closed behind him. He gave a small bow towards the portraits of the founders, sensing it was the right thing to do, then he began to head out of the chamber with Severus in toe.

“Why do you think I could go into all the rooms?”

“I have no idea Harry, no clue at all. They must consider you ‘worthy’, but I don’t know the guidelines for who is worthy and who is not. Either way, I don’t think we should tell anyone about this.”

“No, we definitely shouldn’t!” agreed Harry.

They walked in silence for a few moments before Harry plucked up the courage to speak again.

“Hey, Sev?”

“Yes, Harry?”

“How would you feel about adopting me?”

Severus stopped in shock, “When did you think of that?”

“New Year’s Eve.” Then he added quickly, “But if you don’t want to, it’s fine…”

“No, no. That’s not why I was asking. I actually had the same thought; at about the same time it seems. Do you want me to adopt you?”

Harry blushed slightly, “I want you to be my dad. It that doesn’t sound too childish.”

“I don’t think so. And I would love to be your dad, although I was never dreamed of this happening a year ago.” He laughed slightly and Harry grinned up at him.

“Would you want to keep your name?”

“I think so, yes. I want to keep something of my dad, so he knows I’m not replacing him.”

“Harry, I didn’t particularly like you father, but I can say for certain he would want you to be happy. But if you want to keep your name that’s perfectly fine by me.”

Harry nodded and they walked in silence once more, but now both had smiles playing on their faces.

Back in their quarters, Severus called Nini, who helped them construct a new room off the current living room. When the House-elf left, they put all the books up on the shelves, organised by founder and by topic.

Slytherin’s book were in a separate section, as they were the only books Severus could read, but Harry was looking forward to being able to read all of them.

When they had finished organising, Severus put some wards around the door which meant that only the two of them could enter, then they both picked a book to start reading.

Severus picked a book about spell crafting, while Harry picked up one of the books on fire magic, which he had been drawn to since the moment he first heard about it. All elemental magic sounded amazing, but he though it would be best to start with the element connected to his house.

They set together reading, in contented silence, until it was time to go to lunch.

* * *

After lunch, Hermione pulled her friends into the omnis room and locked the door tightly before sound proofing it. Harry, Ron and Ginny were not too pleased as they had wanted to go fly that afternoon, but once they saw how serious Hermione was acting, they calmed down enough to let her speak.

She told them everything, a few times Ron tried to interrupt, but got jabbed in the ribs by his sister, each time his face getting slowly more and more red.

The others seemed to take it quite well, Neville looked quite nervous but seemed open to the idea of welcoming in two Slytherins and Luna didn’t care what house they were from, both had been the victim of Draco’s bulling, but both had also seen the lack of it over the past year. They were ready to forgive him if he apologised.

Ginny was a little cautious, but she hadn’t been at the end of Draco’s bullying nearly as often as any of the others, so she was more excepting. Harry seemed to be the one who was the most at ease with it, almost as if he had expected it to happen.

“I don’t see house’s as a barrier; I actually think the house system is a little stupid because it takes rivalries too far. If Draco is willing to apologise to me, I will apologise to him. Daphne has never done anything to me, so I have nothing at all against her.”

“But Harry, why should you apologise to him?” asked Ron in surprise.

“Because I’ve done stuff back to him, it’s not all his fault.”

 _"Finally, a human who knows when they are in the wrong."_ hissed Elpis.

Ron grumbled slightly but didn’t argue anymore.

“Thank you, Harry, that’s very mature.” Added Hermione, “There’s just one final thing I want to make you aware of; the other Slytherins are probably going to take offence and this might put us in the firing zone. Are you all prepared for that?”

Surprisingly it was Neville who spoke up, “I think it’s the right thing to do no matter the consequences.”

Harry nodded, “He’s right.”

“If that’s how you feel, then I’ll let them in.”

She walked over to the door and threw it open to reveal Daphne and Draco, who both looked a little nervous, Hermione gave them reassuring smiles and led them over to where the others were sitting.

“You all know Draco, but for those of you who don’t know, this is Daphne.”

She introduced everyone, then Draco cleared his throat.

“I understand that Hermione has told you about my situation. The only thing I have left to add is how truly sorry I am. Ron and Ginny, I’m sorry for everything I’ve ever said about your family and I’m sorry for everything that my father has ever done to discredit it.”

 _ **Sorry is a good place to start, blonde one,**_ thought Elpis.

Ron was still red in the face, but Ginny gave him a small smile. He took a breath before turning to Luna and Neville, “I sorry for the bullying. I should have known better, but I didn’t. I am truly sorry. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, just let me know.”

 ** _That is a big debt,_** Elpis sent to Harry, who nodded back.

Neville gave him a small nod, but Luna piped up, “It’s okay, you were just infested with Wrackspurts.”

Draco was a little taken aback, but just nodded before turning to Harry.

“Potter – Harry – I’m sorry. I’ve done too much to you to list it all, so this is just a blanket apology. All I can say is that I was jealous, you had the popularity and talent that I wanted, and you refused my hand in friendship. Even so, that doesn’t excuse my behavior and I am truly sorry.”

_**It's time for a fresh start, little one.** _

Harry stood and moved over to where Draco was stood.

“I also wanted to apologise, I didn’t act as I should have done and for that I am sorry. How would you feel about a clean slate?”

He held out his hand and Draco shook it, both smiling slightly while Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the second half of the chapter. This is about 3350 words and the first part was about 3500, which you have preferred the to be one later chapter, or do you not mind the two shorter ones?  
> Bear in mind that the chapters in the last work were only about 2000 words each.
> 
> Also, side note that I do not intent Draco and Daphne to just drop the Slytherins, they have known them all their lives and as much as they don't agree with them, they are still friends. There will come a time when it will be dangerous for the two to be around the others, when Voldy returns, but that isn't happening for a little while. I just wanted to make it clear. Also, if Draco dropped the Slytherins, he would make enemies in an important society, not to mention that his dad would get really mad! They are there because it is safe for them, plus i think they could all be really good friends!
> 
> Let me know your thoughts.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	10. Find our inner peace [P2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco puts the plan of him and Harry being friends into action, while Harry find out some important information about himself and plans the perfect birthday for his guardian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is your pre-warning that I have created something called a Phoenix Stone in this chapter and that it has NOTHING to do with any other phoenix stone you may be familiar with.  
> Enjoy :)

Draco sat with his fellow Slytherins at the welcome feast that evening, readying himself for some minor lying. He didn’t particularly enjoy lying to his friends, but if being surrounded by power hungry people had taught him anything, it was that lying was actually extremely effective.

And this particular lie wasn’t completely made up, it was surrounded by truth, as all good lies were. The truth was just warped a little – or a lot.

He took a deep breath and waited for a gap in the conversation he was trying not to listen to between Pansy, Theo and Blaise about a few poor first year Hufflepuffs.

“Hey guys. I got a letter from my Father over the holidays saying I have to at least pretend to be friends with Potter.” He began with a grimace.

They stared at him with looks of shock and mild disgust.

“He says it will be good for the family to be on the right side of the him. He doesn’t want me to show any signs that I hate his guts as much as I do, outside of this group of course. Father even wants me to bring him down to the dungeons, he heard that the prefects motioned to give him clearance last year, he also said that I should be doing what Professor Snape is doing and sucking up to him.”

“Your father thinks that Professor Snape is still on the side of the Dark Lord?” asked Theo in surprise.

“Do you really think he’d be talking to him if he didn’t believe it?”

“Of course not.” Theo quickly responded.

“If my father believes it, then so do I. Even if that does mean I can’t use Potter as hex practice anymore. He already hangs around with the other Snakes in our year, as disgusting as that is, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get him down to the common room. Which should make father happy.”

“Well my father hasn’t said anything about me ‘befriending’ Potter, so do what you please to make your father happy but I’m not going to be helping you.” Commented Pansy sarcastically, while the other four nodded.

“Fine. I wouldn’t do it either if I had a choice.”

“You do have a choice.” Pointed out Blaise, “You don’t have to do everything you father tells you to.”

“You’ve met my Father; do you really think I have a choice? What do you think he would do if I refused?” retorted Draco.

“Probably something painful.”

“Precisely. And I’m not even doing all the leg work, the other idiot Snakes are, which means I barely even have to talk to the idiot.”

“I guess, I just hope it doesn’t make the other Snakes hate you, or us.”

“For sucking up to our head of house’s charge who is basically an adopted Slytherin because of the stupid head girl? I doubt they’ll be too annoyed.”

He turned back to his plate and ignored the others’ eyerolls, leaving them to carry on their previous conversation.

Relived that he had said what he needed to, he thought about the next steps of the plan. Harry just had to get Sophie and her lot to agree, he knew there was no guarantee, as he hadn’t exactly treated them well in the past three years, but he could hope.

At least Harry had volunteered to talk to them, his charm seemed irresistible to most.

* * *

Harry sat in his bedroom in the dungeons a few days into term – it had been a hectic few days and he had been craving some alone time.

He had just finished the first book on fire magic and was desperate to try it out. Quickly, he summoned a candle and lit it, then concentrated on the flickering flame.

According to the book, he had to channel his heart’s fire. He thought about what fire meant to him; danger, courage and passion, and channelled it, closing his eyes while holding his hand next to the flame and feeling the warmth near his skin.

Thinking carefully about focussing his magic into those emotions, he pushed it out through his hand and opened his eyes to see the flame flicker slightly away from his hand.

He focused on the flame, feeling the magic pulsing off it, then joining it with his own magic, that he once again pushed out of his hand. This time the flame jumped slightly and the magical blue core inside it flared darker.

Delightedly, he focused again, this time being rewarded with a bigger flicker. After a few successful attempts he concentrated on trying to move the flame in specific directions.

At first, it didn’t work too well. He visualised the flame moving towards his hand and sent the magic through him, but the flame simply flickered.

For his seconds attempt, he focused harder on the aspects of fire and sort to harness them. The reward was the flame moving towards him for a split second.

After a few more tries, Harry was able to hold the flame towards his hand for a long as he wanted, so he tried leading it around with his hand.

Surprisingly, it followed him first time, and after many more attempts he was able to make the flame follow his hand in any direction.

Next he moved on to disconnecting the flame from the candle. He moved his hand upwards, but the flame merely stretched. Unfazed, he tried again, this time focusing harder on his goal.

He thought specifically about the tiny flame and what he wanted to happen, and when he tried again, it rose a few centimetres of the wick and hung in the air, flickering slightly.

This drained Harry more than everything else he had tried, as he was using his magic to physically heat up the air because the flame had no other source of heat or fuel. Nevertheless, he managed to keep it up for about a minute before it fell back to the candle.

After a small break, he tried again, this time moving the flame further away from the candle and floating it across the room. He did that for about half an hour, practicing and mastering the skill before moving on to the next step the book had mentioned.

He summoned the flame of the candle again, but this time he made it hover above his hand, his fingers curled upwards around it slightly. He moved his fingers slowly, allowing each one to impact on the movement of the flame.

Elpis appeared next to him (she had been asleep in her tank) as he practiced the different skills he had learnt - enlargement and reduction, as well as directional movement – in this different way took a lot of concentration, but he was delighted with the progress he had made.

 _“I think the hook nosed one should see this.”_ Commented an impressed Elpis.

Carefully, he nodded, then led the flame back to the candle, before writing a note for his guardian.

**_Sev,_ **

**_I’m not sure where you are right now,_ **

**_But please meet me in my room._ **

**_Not an emergency but as soon as is sensible please._ **

**_Harry.  
  
_ **

He sent it off, and while he was waiting, practised some more.

When Severus knocked on the door, Harry had just enlarged the flame to three times its original size and was making it hover about thirty centimetres about his hand.

“Come in!” he called.

The door opened to reveal a slightly concerned looking Severus, who looked like he was about to say something but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the flame above his charge’s hand.

Harry grinned and gave Severus a quick demonstration of his new powers before placing the flame back on the candle and looking up at him, waiting for him to say something.

“ _I believe he is incapable of speech.”_ Hissed an amused Elpis as they watched the Potions Master splutter.

Harry had to laugh at the fish like expression on his guardian’s face – how he wished he had a camera!

Eventually, Severus recovered his speech ability.

“When did you learn to do that?” he asked in a low voice.

“Tonight.” Harry grinned.

“When did you start learning?”

“Tonight.” He repeated.

Severus just gaped again, Harry was starting to become confused, he had expected the man to be impressed, but not that impressed.

“You don’t understand, do you?” asked Severus in a whisper when he saw Harry’s confused look.

Harry shook his head and he took a deep breath before continuing.

“Most adults do not have enough magical power in them to do in a lifetime what you have done in a few hours.”

Now it was Harry’s turn to gape.

“Why else did you think elemental magic was so uncommon?” asked Severus with a small laugh.

“I just assumed no-one knew about it.” He admitted.

“No, they are not as well known as they used to be, but people still know about them. I knew you were a powerful wizard, but I didn’t realise you were that powerful.”

“But I’m not that powerful!” Harry protested.

“ _I bonded to you for a reason, little one.”_ Hissed Elpis.

“You have been mastering NEWT level spells at age twelve and thirteen, there was never any question you were powerful. But do you want to know how powerful you are?”

Harry nodded and so Severus beckoned him out of the room.

“In which case, we need to visit the Headmaster. But first, I think that we should stop off at Lupin’s, I think he would like to see this.”

He strode towards Remus’s office with a very confused Harry in toe.

“But what is the Headmaster going to do, Sev?”

“Ah, that would be spoiling the surprise. Do you think that you will be able to do the fire magic again?”

“I guess, as long as there is fire to start with. I haven’t tried creating it yet.”

_“Nevertheless, I think you will be able to as soon as you try.”_

Severus nodded and a few minutes later they arrived at the office of Remus Lupin. He knocked on it then flung it open when he was allowed entry.

“Lupin, I would suggest you come with us.”

“Snape, is everything alright?” he asked in concern as he stood up and hurried towards them.

“Quite.” Severus smirked, “But I would suggest that you should accompany us on our trip to see the Headmaster.”

Remus nodded, sensing that he was going to get no more information out of his colleague, then followed them out of his office, towards the stone gargoyle.

They walked in silence, until they reached the statue, but Harry did send a few reassuring grins at his adoptive uncle that seemed to relax the Defence Professor somewhat.

Severus knocked and was immediately allowed entry. He walked right up to the Headmaster’s desk.

“Albus, can you spare a few minutes? There has been a development I think you might find both impressive and interesting.”

Harry was surprise to hear that his guardian’s voice was almost joyful or even exited – he didn’t usually show that much emotion.

Taking a look at the confused look on Remus’s face and the excitement on the faces of the other two, Dumbledore stood up and ushered the three of them into armchairs by the fire. He looked at Severus expectantly.

“I must first tell you about what myself and Harry found, when he went down to the Chamber of Secrets to harvest the Basilisk.”

He told of what they had found, with the duelling platform, followed by the four paintings and the four studies, which only some were allowed to enter.

Next, he told how he had only been allowed in Slytherin’s room while Harry had been allowed in all four, which got Dumbledore very excited, then he told about the books they had found while when they had gone it.

Then Harry took over, he said how he had found a book on fire magic and started to read it, then that evening had decided to have a go.

Dumbledore’s eyes seemed to dance with anticipation as Harry summoned another candle and show them what he could do.

When Harry had finished, Remus was in a state of shock, similar to Severus’s when he first found out, and the Headmaster looked like he was about to cry with joy.

_“Hmm, he looks funny when he can’t talk.”_

“Urm, Sir? Are you okay?” Harry cautiously asked Dumbledore.

“Why, yes my boy! This is wonderful! To have such a powerful wizard here at Hogwarts is just fantastic.”

Remus nodded and gave Harry a quick hug, telling him he was proud, while Severus asked Dumbledore for something called a Phoenix Stone.

Having never heard of that, Harry watched curiously ask the Headmaster walked over to his desk and laid both of his hands flat on the surface of the wood. After a few seconds, the wood seemed to melt beneath the man’s fingers, revealing a hiding place that was about fifteen by twenty centimetres.

Out of the space, Dumbledore pulled a pinewood box that had no decorations or markings on it. He carried it over the where the trio were and sat back down with the box on his lap. Carefully, he opened it and Harry gasped in awe at what he saw inside.

In the box was a stone, about eight centimetres in length and five in width, which was a brilliant flame colour. The middle of the translucent stone was a deep red, but the colour transitioned and diffused into a brilliant yellow around the outside, making the light that shone through it a little oddly coloured.

“This,” Dumbledore explained, “Is a Phoenix Stone, such named because of its colourings and abilities. It tests the magical power of a witch or wizard; you hold it in your hand and channel you power through it. The more light shows, the more powerful you are, if you wouldn’t mind demonstrating Severus.”

He handed the stone to the Potions Master, who curled his fingers strongly around it and concentrated for a moment. A bright white light shone out from the stone for a few seconds before Severus loosened his grip.

The stone was passed to Remus, who produced the same amount of light as Severus had, before passing it to Harry.

“ _They are both more powerful than your average wizard.”_ Elpis commented.

Harry curled his fingers around the stone and closed his eyes, channelling his magic out through his fingers. The light that erupted from the stone was bright enough for him to see it through his eyelids.

He loosened his grip on the stone so that the light faded and opened his eyes. All three men were staring at him in awe and shock, even Elpis nearly speechless.

“ _You are more powerful than most, Little One.”_

Dumbledore quickly took the stone out of Harry’s hands and curled his own fingers around it, creating light that left spots in Harry’s vision for a few seconds. Quickly, he put the stone back in the box, which he then put away.

Putting a hand on Harry’s shoulder, Severus leaned towards him. “Harry, when you held the stone, as much light came out as when Dumbledore held the stone, do you understand what that means?”

“I’m as powerful as Albus Dumbledore.” Replied Harry in awe.

“No, harry.” Severus shook his head, “You magic will develop more as you grow, and Dumbledore’s magic is probably not going to get any stronger. You are more powerful than Albus Dumbledore.”

Harry couldn’t speak for the shock; he shook his head in disbelief. No-one alive was known to be more powerful than Dumbledore - not even Voldemort.

After a good few minutes where even Elpis was silent, Remus spoke.

“I think we need to keep this quiet for a little while, don’t you think Snape?”

“I do.” Agreed Severus, “You may tell your closet friends of course, but it must not get out.”

The Headmaster added, “It may bring you even more unwanted attention.”

Harry nodded, “Can I go and tell them now?”

“You may go, but I suggest waiting until tomorrow to tell them the details, as you will no doubt want to tell Miss Lovegood also, and it is nearly curfew.” Replied Severus.

Standing up, Harry gave his guardian and his adoptive uncle a hug goodbye, then nodded to the Headmaster before shooting out of the door.

Once he was sure he was gone, Severus turned to Dumbledore, “What do you really think.”

There was a pause, “I think that both his and our jobs just became considerably easier.”

“I will not have you raise him as a killing machine.” Severus warned.

“I would never dream of it my dear boy.” The old wizard assured him, “I meant the job of protecting him from the man who has been after him for nearly fourteen years.”

Harry burst into the common room, which had everyone stare at him, but he didn’t care. He quickly made his way over to his friends, who were sat around the fire, and plopped down on an armchair, trying to get his breathe back.

They all stared at him, “What happened to you, mate?” asked Ron.

“We thought you were going to miss curfew.” Added Hermione.

“I was in Dumbledore’s office with Severus and Moony. I can’t tell you about it here, we could be overheard. We have to go to the Room of Requirement.”

“Come on then.” Ron stood up.

“We have to wait until tomorrow, I promised Severus. Plus, I want Luna to hear it and we can’t go and get her.”

Elpis told him “ _You have scared them.”_

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad – in fact, it’s the opposite.” He quickly added, while running his hand down Elpis’s back.

Ginny looked like she was about to say something but stopped when a piece of paper landed in front of Harry, who picked it up, expecting it to be from Severus. Instead it was a short note, writing in loopy handwriting.

**_Your guardian’s birthday is the ninth of January,_ **

**_I trust you to use this information wisely._ **

**_Moony would be happy to help._ **

****

A grin spread slowly across his face as he read it, then he passed it around to the others. Ron, Neville and Hermione seemed confused, but a similar grin spread across Ginny’s face.

“Do you know what this means?” Harry chuckled.

“Birthday party!” Ginny shrieked.

* * *

The next day, Harry met his friends in the Room of Requirement as soon as school was over. When they were settled, he explained the four studies down in the Chamber to them.

Hermione, of course, wanted to see them straight away, but Harry said that they couldn’t go down there alone. He volunteered to ask Remus (who also wanted to go down) to take them the next night, but then continued to explain how he had found books on elemental magic and had tried fire magic.

Everyone was impressed that he had even tried it, as they had all heard how hard it was, but when they discovered just how far he had developed it in just one night, they were all speechless for the first time ever.

Grinning to himself at what they would do when he told them the next part, he explained everything that had happened in Dumbledore’s office.

Neville stammered, Ginny and Ron gaped, Hermione turned pink and even Luna looked mildly shocked.

(Harry could have sworn he heard Elpis do some sort of snakeish laugh).

When they finally got their voices back, they had all started to talk at once, most of them exclaiming how cool, impressive and exciting it was, while Hermione promised to do lost of research on magical power.

Harry laughed loudly at their reactions, explaining that they were keeping it between them for the foreseeable future, which they all understood.

Once everyone had got over the initial shock (none of them were sure they were ever going to get used to it) of having the country’s – possibly the world’s - most powerful wizard as their friend, they began to practice their animal transformations, which they were still doing, just less frequently.

All of them had now mastered both their transformations and their animal movements, but they were still practicing at least once a week (as Sirius had advised) to make sure they kept their skill at a high level.

After about half an hour, the group left to find Draco and Daphne in the Omnis room. From there the eight of them went to Professor Lupin’s office to present their schemes for the weekend.

Harry knocked on the door they all trooped in.

“Hey Moony, are you busy?” he asked.

“Pronglet! Never to busy for my adopted nephew and friends. What’s up?”

“Well.” Harry grinned, “I happen to know that it is Severus’s birthday on Saturday, and we need your help to make it perfect.”

Remus threw back his head and laughed, “Does Snape know that you know?”

“I don’t think so, Dumbledore sent me an anonymous note last night, but I recognise his handwriting, he said that you would be happy to help.”

“Happy to shock Snape out of his mind? Of course! Now, what exactly did you have in mind?”

“Well, it’s more of a surprise than a shock, I don’t want him to hate me. But I do have a few things I need your help with…”

After they had eaten, the five Gryffindors and Luna met with Remus again, but this time Harry led them all down into the Chamber.

As Harry had somewhat expected, no-one except him could go in more than one of the studies. It still baffled him even though he had expected it, but he took the advantage of being near a huge firepit to practice he elementals.

At one point, he could have sworn that the figure of Godric Gryffindor in the painting looked at him, but he put it down to a trick of the light.

Once the others had spend a bit of time in the studies and had all found something that interested them – Ron managed to find the diary that documented the creation of Quidditch, although it had a few noticeable differences to the modern sport, for example the hoops were square not round – Harry led them back out of the Chamber.

There was still an hour until curfew, so Harry bid his friends goodbye and went to pay on a call to Professor Flitwick.

* * *

The next afternoon, Harry and Severus were curled up together on a sofa in their quarters, reading in contented silence. Harry hadn’t mentioned his guardian’s birthday yet, as he was waiting for the right moment.

 ** _You’re meeting the others soon_** , Elpis reminded him.

Harry nodded and summoned a gift wrapped present from his bedroom, making Severus give him a curious look.

“Happy Birthday.” He said with a smirk as he handed it to him.

His guardian groaned, “Dumbledore told you, didn’t he?”

Harry laughed, “I don’t know who told me, I was sent an anonymous note.” He waggled his eyebrows and Severus smirked before accepting the gift.

“It was definitely Dumbledore then, but thank you.”

He pulled the paper off to reveal a notebook with an illustration of a Blue Tit sat on a branch on the front cover. As he opened the book, the bird gave a small twitter and flapped his wings, Severus looked at Harry questioningly.

“If it wasn’t you touching it, it wouldn’t react in the same way. It would instead try to bite your hand off, I got the idea from Hagrid’s biting books.” Harry explained with a smirk.

“ _Effective_.” Commented Elpis dryly.

Severus nodded and opened the notebook, on the front cover was another illustration, this time of an ink pot and a raven’s feather quill. He touched the picture, and the items emerged from the page, ready to be used.

“ _Clever_.”

“After you’ve written something, you can draw your finger over it while thinking of a colour and it will change to that colour.” Harry added.

Keen to try this out, Severus wrote something quickly with the ink, which he noticed dried instantly, before drawing his finger over it. The black ink immediately changed to a Slytherin green and he grinned.

“Thank you, this is a perfect gift. Do you charm it yourself?”

“I got some help from Professor Flitwick.”

“ _When he wasn’t falling off his chair in excitement_.” Added Elpis, making Harry snigger.

“Still, very impressive work. It will be very useful.” He gave Harry’s arm a quick squeeze and a smile.

“Your welcome, now shall we get some food?”

An hour later, the pair had finished eating; Harry looked at his watch and saw that it was time.

“Hey Sev. Get your cloak, I want to show you something.”

Severus was curious but didn’t ask questions as Harry led him out of the doors and onto the grounds of Hogwarts. They were heading towards a glow, that was down by Hagrid’s hut, which he realised, when he got closer, was a huge bonfire.

Next to the bonfire were several people, including Harry’s friends and the other Heads of house, as well as the Headmaster, Madam Pomfrey, Remus and Hagrid. The small gathering gave the pair a warm welcome as Harry explained that he had planned a small campfire for them.

Severus was delighted with everything, he wasn’t one for socialising, but the gather was not too large and there was a huge fire, which – in his experience – usually made everything slightly more interesting.

When the fire started to die down enough that smores weren’t really an option anymore (Dumbledore had been delighted by these creations), Harry brought a few fireworks that the Weasley twins had developed out of his pocket and poked them with his wand.

For the next twenty minutes they lit up the sky in various colours and shapes, occasionally colliding to create rainbows of sparks. When they eventually stopped, Hagrid doused the bonfire in water and the group started to disband.

Draco and Daphne slipped under Harry’s invisibility cloak, which he had lent to them so they could leave their common room without being asked too many questions, Severus and Harry thanked everyone for coming then made their way back to their quarters, while the others were escorted back to their common rooms by a few professors.

Before they went to their separate bedrooms, Severus pulled Harry into a quick hug.

“Thank you.” He whispered into his charge’s hair, “Thank you for arranging it and, most importantly, thank you for not being overboard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so there is probably about six chapters left of this work, to cover the rest of the school year.  
> I don't have much else to add, so let me know what you think.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)
> 
> Also, I've written a little one shot called 'why do the stairs move?', it's quite angsty with a splash of cute.  
> I'd love if you would check it out and tell me what you think :)


	11. Find our inner peace [P3]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next step of the plan that allows Draco and Daphne to be friends with the group and some bonding between Ron and Daphne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all!  
> I know it’s been a lot longer in between chapters than it usually is, but now that the restrictions have been lessoned a little, I could actually see people. Unfortunately, that meant I had to choose between writing and socialising (my brain doesn’t allow both) and I didn’t have a choice as my mum forced me to socialise.  
> Hey ho. Here I am now with another chapter,  
> Enjoy :)

Harry walked into the library after breakfast the next day and slid into his usual seat in amongst his Slytherin friends. They looked up to greet him and he smiled back at them.

“Hey guys, I need to talk to you.”

Sophie carefully finished writing her sentence before laying down her quill and looking at him with a concerned expression.

“What’s up?”

“How do you feel about Draco Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass?”

The four around the table exchange glances before sighing slightly.

“Draco treats us like scum that shouldn’t be at Hogwarts let alone in Slytherin because we don’t meet his blood purity standards - although he does at least treat us better than he treats all the other houses – but Daphne is the nicest out of that group.” Explained Sophie

“She’s quiet and doesn’t really bother us - if the others are annoying us, she stays out of it.” Oliver added.

“Does Draco join in when the others are bothering you?” asked Harry.

Sophie shrugged, “Sometimes. He’s not the worst, but he doesn’t stay out of it like Daphne does.”

“He’s much better this year than he was last.” Pointed out Sam.

“True.” Emily frowned, “There is something slightly different about him this year – last year he lived to bully people, but this year he’s keeping himself to himself a lot more. I think the tutor sessions with Hermione Granger have helped.”

“I would say so yes.” Harry smirked.

“What are you getting at Harry?” Sophie frowned at him, “What’s with all the questions?”

Harry sighed, “Something’s come up which means that Draco needs other friends. Me and Hermione are trying to get them into our group, but we have to do it gently so that his friends don’t turn against him.”

“Surely the quickest way to get the two of them out is to turn the others against them?” pointed out Sam.

“Yes, but it’s not just normal friendships that are at stake, it’s political friendships and their relationship with their families. These things are important within pureblood society.” Harry explained.

“So what do you want from us? You’re not asking us to be friends with them, are you?” Frowned Sophie.

“I wouldn’t mind be friends with Daphne, but Draco would have to mutter some apologise and treat us better.” Murmured Emily.

Harry took a deep breath, “I’m not asking you to be friends with them necessarily, just keep an eye on them. When you’re in lessons or your common room or wherever, just keep an eye in case the others begin to turn against Draco and Daphne. We need someone on the inside.”

“You make it sound like a spy movie.” Commented Sophie with raised eyebrows, while the others laughed.

“Would you be willing to do it?”

“Can you get Draco to stop making fun of us?”

“Yes. He won’t be able to stop the others, as that would be a huge giveaway, but he will stop.”

“Then okay, we’ll do it.”

“Thank you!” Harry cried, a little too loudly for being in the library. He quickly ducked his head down and checked to see if Madam Prince had noticed, which she hadn’t.

“Thank you,” he repeated more quietly, “I’ll get him to talk to you next time he can. In the meantime, I need to tell you a few things: first of all, Draco has told his friends that he was been ordered by his father to appear to be friends with me, so they think that he is only pretending. It’s a bit complicated.” He admitted.

“So, you need to know that anything he does to me, you, or my other friends, will be fake. He has apologised to us and will apologise to you guys as well, as soon as he can. Is that alright?”

Everything nodded and Harry took a breath before revelling the final part of the plan.

“The final thing is that I need you guys to take me to your common room for our revision sessions instead of here. Draco and Daphne may or may not join us for a few of them, if you’re willing, but I need to be seen in the common room so that Draco can tell his father that it was he doing.”

The four around him were looking at him in shock.

“You want to come down to our common room?” asked Oliver in a hushed voice.

“If that’s okay?” Harry asked, suddenly awkward.

“No-one from another house has ever come into our common room.” Whispered Sam.

“But no-one else has been the adopted son of the Slytherin Head of House before.” Harry pointed out with another smirk.

“True. Well, we were going to meet again after dinner tomorrow, weren’t we? So we’ll meet you outside the Great Hall instead of here and we can take you down. I should fill you in on the rules now.”

“You have rules?”

“Not many, just a few. Professor Snape is quite strict, but fair I guess – to us anyway. We have two study hours after dinner where everyone is expected to be working. Everything that happens in Slytherin stays in Slytherin and Prefects help everyone.”

“That sounds fair.”

“It is.” Agreed Emily, “Now that’s sorted. Shall we get back to studying?”

“Sure, let me just send a quick note to Severus - I mean Professor Snape – telling him the plan.”

He scribbled a quick note that told him about the success of the conversation and sent it off, before pulling a Potions essay out of his bag.

* * *

Ron poked his head around the door of the Omnis room to see how many people were in there.

Noting that it was mostly empty apart from Daphne, he moved towards her. She was bent over her work and so didn't notice him until he pulled up a chair next to her, but when she did see him, she gave him a small welcoming smile.

"What you workin' on?" he asked.

"Charms." Came the short reply. Sometimes it was hard to start a conversation with Daphne, but he didn’t mind too much, he always found something to talk with her about eventually.

"I haven't done my charms yet, don't really understand it if I'm honest with you. Do you think you could give me a hand?" He raised an eyebrow while pulling the barely started work out of his bag.

"It's due tomorrow, do you ever get anything done on time?" She sighed.

"There's a big difference between not on time and done the day before." He grinned.

Daphne simply rolled her eyes before pulling his parchment towards him.

She scanned it, sighed again, then ripped it in half with a fluid movement before chucking it in the bin.

"Hey!" Ron protested, "I spent an hour on that."

"No, you didn't." Retorted Daphne, "You pretended to work while actually messing around for fifty-five minutes, then quickly wrote this in five."

He grinned sheepishly.

"I guess my grades aren't my top priority."

"I'm not here to tell you what your priorities should be, but you might want to rethink them. Either way, I can show you how to do this."

"Thank you."

She nodded in recognition, "By the way, where is everyone? I know Draco is with Hermione, but I don't know where."

"They're down at the library, something about a specific book they needed. Harry is with the other Snakes also in the library." He frowned for a moment at that before remembering that he himself was with a Snake, "And Luna and Neville are down at the greenhouses."

Daphne nodded without comment but with a strange, almost slightly sad look in her eyes before turning her attention back to charms.

An hour later and Ron had finished the essay (he only needed two feet) with a lot of help from Daphne.

"Thanks Daphne." He passed her a chocolate frog from his bag.

She eyebrows raised as she looked at it, "Is this some kind of abysmal attempt at payment?"

Ron's ears glowed red.

"N-no." He stammered, then cleared his throat, "I thought you were just giving me a hand - you know, as a friend - so this is a small demonstration of my gratitude."

Smirking slightly at her ability to make those around her slightly uncomfortable, she accepted the chocolate with a nod.

"Thank you. And you’re welcome. Do you have any other work due?"

"A Defence essay but that's not due until Wednesday. I know I probably should get started on it now, but I wondered if you would help me with something else?"

"And what might that be?" Daphne raised her eyebrows in question.

"I need a bit of help with the cheering charm we were learning the other week."

Something that was a mixture of fear and delight flickered behind her eyes for a split second, before it was masked.

Ron tried to give her an out, " You've already helped me a lot this morning, so if you have other stuff to do, that's fine. But it would be a big help."

"No, no. I've finished my work; I don't mind helping you." She gave him a small smile.

"Thank you!" Ron grinned again, seeing that she was back to her usual self, "Why do you reckon we have cheering charms?"

"I could see some uses for them, but they're highly addictive and shouldn't really be used more than once in the space of a week. I don't know why they think teaching it to teenagers who are prone to try and find things to stop the stresses of exams is a good idea." She added a little bitterly.

Ron looked at her in surprise, but she had her head down and her hair was covering her face. He slowly reached out a hand to move it, but the second he touched her, a wand appeared in front of him and his fingers felt as if they were made of jelly.

Quickly he drew away, trying to move his fingers despite the fact they felt like they had neither bone nor muscle in them.

His ears turned red again, but this time out of anger. He was just about to shout at Daphne when he saw the tears shining in her eyes.

"S-sorry, sorry." She stammered, then blinked furiously.

Ron was confused at the obvious change in his friend, only five minutes ago she was being her slightly snarky and sassy (just what he loved about her) self, but now she seemed to have broken.

Confused but concerned, he moved to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but quickly drew back, remembering not only what had happened only moments before when he had tried to touch her, but the fact that he couldn't feel anything through his fingers.

"Sorry." She murmured again.

By now the tears had left her eyes and she lifted her wand at Ron. The next moment, he had movement as well as feeling back in his fingers and was testing them carefully.

Once he realised that they were back to normal, he looked over at Daphne, who was staring down at the table with unfocused eyes.

Slowly and carefully, he reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. She stiffened slightly but he ignored it, trusting that she would relax soon.

"What's the matter?" He asked as gently as he could - he hadn't had much practice at comforting people, that was usually his mum's job.

The blue eyes flickered towards him for a split second before finding a new place on the table to stare at.

"What's the matter?" He repeated in almost a whisper, "I want to help Daphne, what's wrong?"

He slowly reached up to move the hair so he could see her face better, but she quickly jerked out of the way, set her face into a neural expression, then sat up straight.

Ron stared in surprise, "How do you do that?"

She raised her eyebrow in question, so he explained.

"Make you face go all emotionless like that."

"It's just what I've been trained to do." She shrugged.

"By your parents?" She nodded so he continued, "Is that what you've been doing this whole time? Hiding behind a mask?"

She shrugged again, "If that's what it takes to not show emotion. I'm not supposed to show emotion because emotion is weakness."

"I'm pretty sure your parents didn't want you hiding something as big as you obviously are though. Surely they just meant surprise or anger or stuff like that."

She shoulders sagged slightly, "Maybe. But I haven't wanted to talk about this."

"Not even to me?"

Daphne looked surprised, "I hardly know you."

"That didn't stop you from talking to me on Christmas Eve." Ron pointed out.

Daphne looked slightly embarrassed.

"My dad would be unimpressed if he found out about that."

"But he's not going to find out, I'm not going to tell him. You can trust me - I'd much rather you told me than no-one at all."

She looked up at him, considering his offer. Blue eyes met blue eyes for a while, causing the back of Ron’s neck to get steadily more and more red. Eventually she looked back down at the table again and took a deep breath.

“I’ve been having nightmares.” She whispered, keeping her gaze firmly fixed away from him. Her whole body was tense, as though she expected the teenager next to her to explode with rage, instead his hand came to rest on her shoulder again.

“That’s understandable.” He said simply, “I’m not sure anyone could go through what you did and not have nightmares. Do you want to tell me about them?”

Her shoulders relaxed slightly, and she took another few deep breaths before nodding and closing her eyes. Quickly she opened them again - as if she saw things in her mind’s eye that she didn’t want to - then she looked straight into his eyes before taking another deep breath.

“I’m down in the chamber. Tom forces me to kidnap people and bring them down there before turning the basilisk on them. Every night it’s someone different; sometimes it’s someone I barely know, that I’ve just seen around the school. But sometimes it’s someone I know well; like Draco, my parents or even my s-sister.”

Her voice broke on the last word and she buried her face in her hands. Ron was a little bewildered; as much as he wanted Daphne to talk about what was going on, he really had no idea how to help her once she started crying.

Quickly, he thought about what his mum would do when someone was crying. He didn’t think that Daphne would appreciate a full Molly Weasley style hug – but a comforting arm would do. Carefully he snaked his arm under the blonde hair and patted her back as soothingly as he could.

“It’s okay Daphne, your family is okay. You haven’t done anything to them, and you never will.” He whispered in her ear.

After not too long, she stopped crying and rubbed gently at her eyes.

“I hate that I attacked all of those people.” She whispered.

“You didn’t.” Ron replied earnestly, “Tom Riddle did. He is evil and he did evil things to you. You are the victim here.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.” He insisted, “And do you know how I know?”

She tried her best to summon a questioning eyebrow.

“Because you are the one suffering from nightmares, not any of the people petrified.”

“I would have thought that Harry had nightmares if I do.”

Ron shook his head, “Harry has ways of dealing with his nightmares, and has had since the summer. They don’t bother him, and you did nothing to make it worse. I promise.”

Daphne cocked her head slightly, “How does he deal with them?”

“Some kind of meditation, not unlike the Animagus meditations.” He replied without really thinking.

“Why would I know anything about Animagus meditations?”

Suddenly, Ron looked like a deer in headlights.

“Why do you know anything about Animagus mediations?” she narrowed her eyes at him.

His ears turned red and he spluttered slightly.

“You’re learning how to become an Animagus, aren’t you?” she sighed.

“No.” Ron answered truthfully.

She looked suspiciously at him, so he quickly back pedalled, “Do you want me to find out about the nightmare meditations?”

“If there’s any way of getting rid of them, then I would like to try it.” She admitted.

“I’ll talk to him and see what I can do. But for now, do you think you could help me with this cheering charm?”

* * *

A little while later, Ron and Daphne walked into the Great Hall together. They separated, Daphne joining Draco at the Slytherin table, while Ron made his way over to his friends at the Gryffindor table, waving to Luna on the way.

He dropped into the seat in-between Harry and Neville and began to ladle food onto his plate.

“Hey guys, I think we should all learn how to those nightmare control meditations that Harry knows.”

Neville and Ginny looked surprised, while Hermione and Harry looked concerned.

“Are you getting nightmares?” Hermione asked

“No.” he hesitated, wondering how much he could tell them without betraying Daphne.

“Then why bring this up now?” asked Harry, “I agree that it’s a good idea and I think that you should all do it – it will be easy after what we’ve been doing the past six months – but why bring it up now?”

Ron sighed, “There’s someone I want to teach it to.”

“Well, if they would like to join us, I can teach you all together.” Harry offered.

“Thanks mate. I’m not sure if she would be comfortable with that, as she knows me best, but I’ll talk to her. How about after dinner?”

Every nodded and Hermione spoke up, “I’ll let Luna know. And if Daphne is coming then we should probably invite Draco too.”

Ron looked at her in surprise, “How’d you know it was Daphne?”

Both Hermione smirked slightly, “It was the only logical choice, you don’t talk to anyone else outside out little group.”

“I suppose. I just hope she doesn’t mind you all knowing about the nightmares.” He glanced over to the Slytherin table and saw a splash of blonde as well as a flash of blue eyes.

“It’s not like we know the details.” Soothed Hermione, “That’s between you and her. Now, are we alright with me inviting Draco? It would be a good opportunity to get to know him.”

Ginny snickered slightly while Harry raised his eyebrows, but everyone nodded wordlessly.

“Right.” Hermione crowed. “Where shall we tell them to meet us?”

“The Room of Requirement would be best to do it, but they don’t know where that is.”

“I was planning to show Daphne that room this afternoon anyway, so she can show Draco tonight.”

Seeing Hermione and Ginny exchange a look, he snapped, “Nothing like that.” While turning slightly red on the top of his ears.

As soon as lunch was over, Ron dashed back to the Omnis room to meet Daphne. He waited about five minutes before she appeared and made her way over to him.

“Harry said he would teach us all the mediation techniques tonight if you wanted to.”

“All together?” Daphne asked with a concerned look.

Ron nodded, “It will take the attention of you, it will just be a group of friends learning something together.”

“I’m not really part of your group though, am I?”

“You will be soon.” Ron promised, “Plus, Draco is coming too.”

This seemed to relax her somewhat, “Okay, thank you. Where and when?”

“When, is straight after dinner, and where, I am about to show you.”

“After dinner is the Snake’s study period, Professor Snape won’t like us missing it.”

A slightly mischievous light came on in Ron’s eyes, “You aren’t missing it, your studying something else.”

“True.” She sighed, “I should still tell Professor Snape though.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Harry will sort it.”

They walked for a few more minutes until they came across the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, where Ron motioned for Daphne to stop, before pacing up and down until a door appeared.

Daphne’s eyebrows rose in shock as he opened it to reveal and small sitting room. Before she could walk in, he closed it again and paced three times once more, this time opening the door to reveal an exercise room with a full running track and boxing ring.

“This,” he explained, “Is the Room of Requirement. You think of what you want while pacing up and down three times, and the room becomes whatever you need. Have a go.”

Quickly, she did as he had instructed, and the door opened to reveal an exact replica of her bedroom in the Greengrass manor.

She gasped and ran in, noting that everything from the carvings on the bedposts to the shade of green that decorated the bedsheets were both perfect. The only thing that wasn’t there were her personal belongings, like her trinkets and clothes.

After a few minutes, Ron led her back outside.

“I have something to show you and I need the room to look a certain way.” He explained before closing the door and pacing up and down three times.

This time, the door opened to show a room that was about twelve meters square, with a grassy floor as well as walls and ceiling that were painted to show the sky and rolling hills in the distance.

Ron led Daphne to the centre of the room and pulled her down onto the grass.

“You asked me earlier if I was learning how to become an Animagus and I said I wasn’t. I didn’t outright lie, but I did bend the truth somewhat, I’m actually already an Animagus, as are Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna.”

The girl looked angry and a little sad, so he carried on quickly, “I didn’t mean to lie like that and I’m really sorry. I wanted to tell you and I do trust you, but it wasn’t just my secret to tell, it doesn’t just involve me.”

Daphne paused for a moment before nodding and smiling a little, “I understand. Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me.” She patted his arm before raising an eyebrow, “So what are you?”

Ron grinned, “My Animagus name is Floppy – don’t ask the others picked it – and I’ll show you.”

Closing his eyes for a moment, he concentrated on his form and felt his body reshaping. He reopened his eyes when he heard a delighted squeal and felt a hand running through the fur on his back.

Looking up at Daphne, he let out sort of purr and rubbed himself against her leg before darting off with a burst of speed. He had been practicing over the past few months, and so had no problem putting on a show of speed, swerves and leaps.

When he eventually made his way back over to Daphne and changed back into his human form, her eyes were shining.

“How do I learn to do that?” she asked in a hushed voice.

Ron laughed, “How did I know you were going to ask that? There is no guaranty that you will be able to, but we can talk to Harry about it later.”

Harry walked into the library after breakfast the next day and slid into his usual seat in amongst his Slytherin friends. They looked up to greet him and he smiled back at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like what I’ve done with Ron’s character.  
> He’s still awkward, but he at least tries to be a good friend and he uses he brain a bit more.  
> It’s an interesting dynamic; Harry might have been better suited to helping Daphne, but Ron wants a go anyway – but does talking to someone who doesn’t truly understand actually help?  
> Hope you enjoyed :)
> 
> Side note, I’ve started a second fanfiction, where Harry is named Headmaster of Hogwarts in his fifth year. It’s a little different and there’s only one chapter up so far, but I’d love it if you checked it out :)


	12. Find our inner peace [P4]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meditations, Animagus transformations and elemental magics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have no knowledge of meditation and I do not advice you use these techniques. I have no clue if they actually work and I did very little research.  
> Now that is out of the way, enjoy :)

Harry motioned for his friends to join him in a circle on the floor, and as he did so, he looked around at each of them.

Draco and Daphne seemed a little awkward (although he suspected they were feeling even more uncomfortable than they were letting on) and Hermione and Ron seemed a little nervous, but everyone else was fairly relaxed.

They were in the Room of Requirement – which was kitted out with several floor mats and cushions, as it had been for their Animagus training – so that Harry could begin to teach them his mediations.

“Right guys, I want to show you two forms of mediation today, and there is a third one that I can show you later if you like. The first is visualisation, the second is colour focusing and the third – which we may not have time for today - is shielding.”

After a moments pause, he slowly began, “I want you to start by lying down and closing your eyes Visualise a cave; it’s dark and gloomy, with slimy walls and jagged rocks all around. It’s hard to see anything, but if you strain your eyes, you can just about see the outline of a chest on the floor in front of you. The chest is blackened and charred, with black sludge oozing out of the cracks in it.

“I now want you to think about a nightmare, any nightmare; think about the whole thing – leave nothing out – then imagine that you are lifting your hand to your head and pulling a blackened string out as carefully and slowly as you can. This is your nightmare.

“As you pull out the string, visualise that the string is the nightmare and that the nightmare is now slowly leaving your head. When you have pulled the the whole string out, I want you to coil it up and place it into the chest.

“Once you have done this, I want you to pick up a padlock - the bigger the better – with no place for a key to fit in. The padlock needs to be bulky and impossible to break. Carefully close the lid of the chest and secure it with the padlock. Your nightmare is now locked away in the chest, away from you.

“Next I want you to turn away from the chest, towards where the small amount of light is coming into the cave. Move out of the cave, towards the light. You should notice that as you get closer to the mouth of the cave, the rocks become less sharp and the walls less slimy.

“I want you to visualise that you have come out of the entrance to the cave and onto a grassy hill. The glass is lush and ticklish, there are beautiful wildflowers all around, in the distance you can see more rolling hills. The sky is a beautiful blue and the sun is shining brightly, warming you nicely.

“You can smell the sweet flower scents, hear the far-off sound of birds, and feel a gentle breeze on your face. You are only halfway up the hill, so you start to climb. The higher you go, the futher you can see; a new line of hills appears behind the ones you can already see, and a forest appears in the distance.

“In front of you, at the very top of the hill, there is a small group of trees, they are swaying slightly in the breeze and are making a calming whooshing sound. You move closer and see that one of the trees is perfect for climbing, so you walk to the base of it and begin to climb. A little way up it, there is a natural canopy of branches which you make yourself comfortable on.

“From here, you cannot see the cave, but you can see the surrounding area for miles in each direction, it is all made up of beautiful rolling hills, lush grass and welcoming trees. You concentrate on your surroundings, there is a small blue tit fluttering from branch to branch, a squirrel burying his nuts, a tiny mouse climbing a tall stalk of grass.

“Breathing deeply, you let the scent of the flowers overwhelm you as you try and understand the words that the trees are saying to you.”

Here, Harry stopped talking and listened to the comfortable silence around him as his friends continued to visualise. He slowly opened his eyes and noticed that the room had dimmed the lights slightly.

Looking around at his friends, he noted that Luna seemed to be fully asleep, while Hermione and Daphne both had their eyes open.

After about five minutes, everyone had opened their eyes except for Luna, who was snoring softly, but she awoke with a big smile on her face when Neville gently patted her shoulder.

“That was amazing.” She announced.

“Glad you enjoyed it.” Chuckled Harry, “How did everyone else find it?”

“I’ve always found visualisation quite hard.” Hermione admitted with a shrug.

“Me too.” Nodded Daphne, “I don’t find it easy to take something out of my brain like that.”

“Fair enough. How about the rest of you?”

“I found that it worked very well.” Stated Draco quietly.

Neville added, “Yes, it worked for me too.”

“So, it worked for Neville, Draco and Luna, but not for Hermione and Daphne. What about you two?” Harry motioned to Ron and Ginny who glanced at each other before Ginny spoke up.

“It worked okay, but not as well as I suspect it did for you three.” She said, while Ron nodded along.

Harry smirked and Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

“I just think it’s interesting that the three who are only children, are the ones who like visualisation meditation techniques.”

“I think it’s more interesting that you, the loneliest of all of us growing up, don’t find visualisation the easiest.”

“I do find it very effective for getting rid of nightmares, if I wake up in the night, but I use colour focusing to help me get to sleep every night, that way I’m more relaxed and less likely to have a nightmare in the first place.”

He shrugged away the looks of sympathy and asked if they wanted to move onto colour focusing, which they did.

“This technique requires a special ceiling, so is not always convenient, but I have a ceiling like this in both my room in the dungeons and the roof of my four poster the Lion’s tower.”

He closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate on asking the room for what he needed, and when he opened them again, the ceiling of the room looked exactly like the ceiling in his own bedroom; full of planets, stars and swirling colours.

“We’re going to lie flat on our backs and stare up at the sky. You need your eyes open for this one, so please limit your movements so we don’t distract each other too much.”

For a few moments he waited to give everyone chance to settle down.

“I want you to start by listing the colours you can see above you, go as detailed and specific as you can, completely focus on the colours in front of you and imagine that you are among them, floating along as they swirl around you.”

He gave them a few minutes to do this before speaking again, “Now you have spent time focusing on the colours, you can start to focus on the stars. Concentrate on the fact that each tiny pick of light you can see is a planet or star and think about what that star might look like up close.

“When you have done one star, move onto the next. Where there is a small cluster, you can imagine being closer to them and seeing them all together; they are separate and you can take them one at a time, but you can see all of them together.

“Just keep the rhythm going; focus on one colour, or one star, or group of stars for a while, then move onto another. Focus completely on your observations and go into as much detail as you can.”

After about five minutes of silence, Harry had to sit up as he knew that he would fall asleep if he concentrated on the sky for much longer.

As he sat up, a few others moved too. Hermione, Daphne and Draco seemed to be the most awake, while Neville and Luna seemed relaxed. Ginny and Ron were completely asleep (Ron was soaring as usual) so they were woken with gentle taps on the shoulder.

Harry smiled at them, “I take it that you two found that one a lot more relaxing than the first one.”

“Yeah.” Ron yawned while Ginny stretched, “It was impossible to not fall asleep.”

With a slight chuckle, Harry turned to Neville and Luna, “How did you two find that?”

They glanced at each other, then Neville answered, “Relaxing, but not as good as the first one.”

“This one didn’t send me to sleep.” Luna added.

Harry nodded, then turned to the others, “You three don’t seemed to be very relaxed at all.”

Daphne frowned while Hermione and Draco shook their heads.

“I get easily distracted,” explained Hermione, “I start to think about other things and find it hard to bring my attention back to either the colours or the surroundings that we created.”

“I’ve just never been much of a visualiser.” shrugged Daphne, “Even for that one, you wanted us to visualise.”

“I guess I did.” admitted Harry, “But Draco, you found the first one to be effective, so what was wrong with this?”

Draco thought for a moment before answering, “I prefer to create my own world, rather than base it off something that is already there. Also, every time I closed my eyes, what I was visualising went away, which obviously doesn’t happen when it’s already inside my head.”

“Ah, makes sense. In which case, I think that the three of you will be better off with the last technique. I can show it you if you like?”

“We only have an hour until curfew.” Hermione pointed out.

“Then we’ll only spend three quarters of our hour doing this one.” Harry shrugged, “It’s less of a mediation and more of a wall building anyway.”

“Wall building? You mean like occlumency?” Draco asked.

“Sorry, what’s occlumency?”

“Protecting your mind from legilimency, which is effectively mind reading.” Supplied Hermione promptly.

“Thanks Hermione. I think that it’s in the same branch as occlumency, but not nearly so powerful, why do you ask Draco?”

“My father mentioned that he wanted to teach me this summer, not that he will get the chance now.”

He frowned but felt better when Hermione put a comforting hand on his arm.

“Severus knows occlumency, he might be able to teach you.”

“Thanks Harry, I might ask him later on.”

Harry nodded, “Okay, this one requires closed eyes. You need to think about your nightmare and the exact emotions that it made you feel - as many as you like and as detailed as you can – you need to think of them and move them to a corner of your brain.

“Now I want you to build walls around those emotions to keep them in that part of your mind, they need to be strong walls so that the emotions cannot escape.

“Once you have done that, you need to isolate the memories that are connected with the nightmare, if there are any, and build walls around them in a separate part of your mind.

“For the next part, I want you to find the nightmare itself, start with just the one, and move that into a third walled area. By the time you have finished, everything should be locked away.”

He paused for a few minutes to allow them time to follow his instructions before opening his eyes and sitting up. Everyone else was also sat up by this time and staring at him expectantly.

“How did everyone find that? Daphne and Hermione, did that one work better for you?”

“Yes.” said Daphne, “I find it much easier to lock something in a place within my mind rather than trying to take it out of my mind, even if I am taking it out in a visualised setting.”

“I’m glad we finally found something that works for you, although I should warn you that you can’t leave the thoughts, emotions and nightmares locked away for a long period of time. It’s not good for you.”

Daphne nodded and Hermione spoke up, “I also found that one a lot easier. It’s a bit like being in a library, but for my thoughts – and I’m putting something in a restricted section that I’m only allowed in sometimes.”

Harry laughed, “Yes Hermione, that’s perfect. How did everyone else find it?”

“I think I need a bit of practice for it to be really effective, but I can see it working well.” Commented Draco.

“Yes,” agreed Ginny, “I think I prefer the colour, but that is a close second.”

“I didn’t find it helpful at all. I find it hard to see my own mind, but the other two worked for me so that’s fine.” Piped up Neville while Luna and Ron nodded.

“Well, it seems like you’ve all found something that works, and half an hour before curfew, which is great. Do we want to head back to our common rooms now?”

People starting to nod, but Ron shook his head.

“Can we stay a little while longer? I showed Floppy to Daphne today and she was very interested.”

Draco looked confused and Hermione looked a little disapproving while everyone else chuckled a little.

“I’m not surprised that she was interested.” Commented Ginny.

“Who is Floppy?” Demanded Draco, earning him a small disapproving look from Hermione.

“Sorry,” he added, “It’s just, I’m the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on here.”

Harry sighed, then willed the lights to turn on, “Would you like to do the honours?” he asked Hermione.

“Well, I’m not sure if you are aware, but while they were at school, Professor Black and two of his friends, one being Harry’s father, became Animagi.”

Both Draco and Daphne raised their eyebrows in shock, neither had heard that detail.

“And when Harry found this out, he asked his godfather if he would show him how to do it.” Hermione continued, “Long story short, we are now all unregistered Animagi.”

“Why unregistered?” asked Draco.

Harry explained, “It’s a secret weapon. Voldemort has already tried to kill me three times - and I’m pretty certain that he will try again - so having anything like this is an amazing advantage.”

“That makes sense.” Agreed Draco, who’s eyes now had a slightly mischievous glint in them, “And why are you telling us this?”

“Well, it’s unfair that the rest of are all Animagi and you two aren’t.” pointed out Luna.

“Of course, you would have to keep it a complete secret, I don’t think Severus would be very happy to know that we have passed this knowledge on. It _must_ stay between us eight.” Harry added.

“We can agree to that.” Daphne stated after a quick glance at Draco, “But who else knows that you six are animagi?”

“Severus, Sirius and Remus.”

“Alright.” The two grinned at each other, “So what are your Animagus forms?”

Each of them told the two their forms and names, then Harry stepped forward again to explain the first step.

“I will cast a spell on you that tells you if you can become an Animagus and what type of animal you will be - for example, I was just shown a small bird, not a blue tit – I’ll do Draco first.”

He moved in front of the other boy and cast the spell. After about ten seconds a cat erupted in a silvery mist from the centre of his chest and trotted around him a few times before disappearing.

“Awesome, a cat of some kind.” Commented Harry.

“It did look pretty regal.” Admitted Draco with a smug smirk.

Harry rolled his eyes, move closer to Daphne and cast the spell. After about thirty seconds a small but long animal with rounded ears and a dark tipped tail bounded out of her, it gambolled in a circle before disappearing.

“A stoat.” Breathed Daphne, “I’ve always wanted to see a stoat, now I can be one!”

She let out a squeal that was most unlike her and turned to hug the nearest person - who just so happened to be Ron - until he had turned red from the bottom of his neck to the very tip of his ears.

Eyes shining, Draco asked, “What do we have to do now?”

* * *

Two months later, Daphne achieved her Animagus transformation.

It was just her and Ron in the room of requirement, they had been in there for about half an hour when she whispered the incantation to herself.

Immediately, she saw her stoat form in her mind’s eye; it was a light chocolate brown with a cream under belly and a black tail tip. The eyes were bright and alert, and the black nose quivered as it poked its head out of a small hole.

Seeing that the coast was clear, the stoat moved out of the hole and began to play; with leaps and bounds it dashed around in the grass, and just as it found some prey to pounce on, Daphne felt her body shifting.

Opening her eyes, she noticed how low to the ground she was and how big Ron looked as he lay on the floor mediating. Carefully, she walked up to him, not used to walking on four legs or having such a long body.

Gently, she nosed Ron, who flinched and opened his eyes, then sat up in surprise when he saw the small animal next to him.

“Daphne?” he asked, and when she gave a kind of nod he exclaimed in delight, “You managed it! And you’re beautiful!” immediately, his ears started to turn red, but he ignored it and continued, “We’ve got to find you a name now.”

He thought for a moment, “How about star? I know it doesn’t have much to do with you being a stoat, but it’s a pretty name to suit a pretty animal.”

The stoat moved away, and the next second Daphne appeared.

“Star is cute.” She announced with a smirk.

While the Daphne and Ron were in the Room of Requirement, Harry was in his own room in the dungeons.

He had mastered fire manipulation a month ago and was now trying to extend his elemental abilities into the creation of fire. He hadn’t managed it yet, but he had feeling that he would pretty soon.

Carefully, he sat on his bed, candle in hand, and concentrated on drawing his hearts fire out of himself and into the air in front of his hand. This was the way that the book his outlined he could create fire. He needed to heat up the air, but he also needed to use his own magic and will to set it alight.

As calmly as he could, he channelled his magic into the air. Just as he was about the give up, the tiniest flicker of a flame appeared, he quickly held the candle out to it and was delighted when the wick caught alight.

He blew out the candle and tried again, this time with slightly quicker results. Half an hour later, he was able to create a flicker big enough to light a candle with only a few seconds thought.

I have to show Severus, he thought to himself, before rushing out of his room.

* * *

One month after that, Draco achieved his Animagus form.

He and Hermione we alone in the Room of Requirement the day before Easter Sunday, when he whispered the incantation and saw a flat faced, regal looking cat, with a creamy body but black tipped paws, ears, tail and face, padding along in a pine strewn forest.

After a few minutes of watching the cat, Draco felt his body morphing and when he opened his eyes, he was on all the fours and low to the ground. Carefully he looked around to try and get used to seeing everything from this angle.

Once he had tested each paw, he set of towards Hermione. He felt that the fluid movements came quite easily to him, and when he reached his friend, a soft purr erupted from his throat with very little effort.

At the sound of the purr, Hermione opened her eyes and sat up, trying to find the source of the noise. Her eyes alighted on the cat beside her and she couldn’t help but run her hand through the thick, creamy back fur.

With a quick movement, the cat leaped onto her knees - it didn’t land with all the grace that a cat normally held, but it was pretty dignified all the same – and began to rub it’s head against her arm.

She continued to run her hand through the fur until it disappeared from beneath her fingers. Before she had time to realise what was happening, the cat had gone, and Draco was left in its place on her lap.

Momentarily awkward, he made to move off her, but caught sight of her eyes.

As he looked into them, he could see that they were a beautiful chocolate colour with shocks of a gold running through them. They had a gorgeous depth to them and seemed to be telling him that she was the one for him.

Slowly, he moved his face towards hers; he paused for a moment to check that she wasn’t going to pull away, then their lips met for the first time.

Moments later, Draco pulled back then moved out of Hermione’s lap. With a genuine smile, which she returned, he brushed his hair out of his face and announced, “I think my Animagus needs a name.”

Breathing slightly heavily, Hermione nodded; she was having a bit of trouble concentrating because she couldn’t get the image of those piercing blue eyes or the memory of the sweet kiss out of her mind.

After a few minutes of silence, she finally got her mind back to the question he had asked.

“I think you’re a Persian cat.”

“The most noble and regal of all cats.” Commented Draco, then he added, “I can see why that’s my form.”

Hermione rolled her eyes, but it was all in jest.

“How about Darius? It means rich and kingly I believe, not that your ego needs to be expanded any more.” Her chocolate eyes sparkled.

“If you didn’t think it suited me then you wouldn’t have suggested it.” Smirked Draco while he offered a hand to help her up, “I think it’s perfect. We should go an tell the others.”

Meanwhile, Harry was in his room in the dungeons, where he spent a lot of his time practising his fire magic.

In the month since he had first been able to create fire from the air, he had come a long way; now he could create a handle full of flames to light the way if he didn’t have his wand, send fire balls towards objects and create whips of fire, he could even create the beginnings of a fire tornado.

He had also begun to teach Hermione fire magic; she hadn’t got very far, but she could quite easily get a candle flame to flicker towards her hand now.

Tonight however, he thought that he would try something different: there was nothing that said he had to stick to one elemental. Admittedly, being able to wield more than one elemental had never been heard of, but he had been able to enter the studies of all four founders when no-one else had.

He had tried fire magic because it was the elemental of Godric Gryffindor, who was the founder of his house, but he thought that now would be a good time to see if he could do a second elemental.

Out of the other three houses, he felt that he was the most Slytherin, after all he could talk to snakes as Slytherin himself could and the sorting hat had wanted to put him in the house of snakes, so he had decided a few nights previously to find a book on water magic from Salazar’s study.

He had spent the last few nights reading it, and from what he could tell, the basis of the elementals was the same, but you had to concentrate on different things. For fire magic, you had to find your hearts fire, but for water magic you had to focus on the blood pumping through you veins.

Harry guessed that it had something to do with the water in the blood, but he wasn’t too sure, it didn’t make complete sense to him, but he thought he may as well just go with it.

Closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths, he connected his left hand to his right wrist and felt the pulse there. After a few minutes of feeling the regular rhythm of the blood flow, he began to think about the contents of the blood, just as the book had instructed.

He thought about how the white blood cells and platelets protected him while the red blood cells carried the oxygen he needed and the water within the plasma that made the blood flow around his body.

Focussing carefully on the idea that the water within his blood was keeping him alive, he began to channel magic out of his right hand (he kept his left hand on his wrist so he could still feel his pulse) and towards the glass of water that was on the table next to him.

Seconds later, he opened his eyes and looked to see if anything was happening, but in doing so he lost concertation and had to start over.

The second time, he kept his eyes open for the whole exercise so that he wouldn’t lose concentration. After a few minutes of practising the meditations and pushing his magic out of his hand, the water rippled slightly.

At first, he wasn’t sure if he had just knocked the glass, so he did it again to make sure - it worked, and a small ripple was sent across the surface.

The more times he tried it, the bigger the ripple became, until it got too big and splashed out of the glass. Quickly he got up and went to fill on the bathtub. Once it was done, he channelled his magic again and sent a small wave across the surface of the water.

An hour later, he was able to send a small tidal wave across the bath (it was a good job he could get rid of the water that spilled, or he would have been in a heap of trouble) as well as send patterns of ripples of whatever size he chose.

When he showed his guardian, Severus was shocked and immediately called Dumbledore, Remus and Sirius to come and see. They all marvelled over his powers as no-one, to their knowledge, had ever been known to wield more than one elemental.

He told his friends (except for Daphne and Draco, who still didn’t know) and Hermione spend hours in the library scanning for any information on this new ability. Unsurprisingly, she found very little on elementals in general and nothing at all on the magic of being able to control more than one.

By the end of the Easter holidays a week later, she had given up researching and instead had Harry show her everything that he could do, which now included raising water droplets from the surface of the water and making them dance in little patterns.

He hadn’t tried to create water, or even move it so it was hovering above his hand as he had done with the fire, but for only a week’s work, it was extremely impressive, and Hermione found it truly fascinating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s my second disclaimer for this chapter: Yes, I am technically getting an 8 or a 9 (the results aren’t out yet) in my biology GCSE, but I haven’t actually taken the exam due to Covid and so did zero revision and probably got all the stuff about the blood wrong. I am sorry.  
> Let me know what you think; do you like Dramione? Do you think that elementals are cool?! Why do you think Harry can do more than one?!! DO YOU LIKE THIS WORK?  
> Also, I am very sorry that almost half of this chapter is Harry teaching mediations techniques that I’m not even sure are valid. It just happened…  
> I think I’m slightly delirious, either way, hope you enjoyed :)


	13. Make it everlasting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry tries his water powers out on the Black Lake and Dumbledore makes an exiting announcement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is my humble offering to keep the peace after not uploading for nearly two weeks.  
> Plus I was supposed to be going to Ecuador for four weeks today and i don't to because of Corona so i thought uploading today was a nice thing to do.  
> Sorry about that, I am going to try and keep my updates more regular from now on.  
> Enjoy :)

At eleven o’clock on the last night of the Easter holidays, Harry was stood next to the Black Lake with Severus. They were there under the cover of dark so that he could practice his magic on a large body of water without anyone finding out about his developing powers.

The Hogwarts Express had brought everyone who had gone home for the holidays back to school earlier in the evening and the usual feast had been eaten. Now however, everyone (even Ron and Hermione who had begged to come with them to the Lake) were in their common rooms or dormitories, leaving Harry and his guardian free to experiment unseen.

Calmly, Harry held his hands out towards the water and sent his magic through them. After a few seconds, a few ripples formed; each one was bigger than the last as he pushed more magic out and a few minutes later they were less ripples and more waves, reaching a meter in height.

He turned to Severus - who had been standing beside him, silently watching while he tested his power - and spoke.

“I know I could do bigger, but I don’t want the wave to hurt anything when it reaches the other side.”

 ** _“Compassion. I knew I did right by choosing you.”_** Elpis sent to Harry’s mind.

“Are you going to try separating droplets now?” asked Severus.

Harry gave Elpis a gentle pat on the head (something she seemed to quite like) then nodded, turned back to the water and raised his hands once more.

This time he concentrated not on the power, but on what he wanted to happen. He got low and focused on a small patch of water before carefully lifting the liquid away from the lake.

This wasn’t much different to what he had been doing with the bath water, so he let the droplet fall back to the lake and pulled a much bigger body of water from it. It looked less like a drop of water and more like an odd bubble - about thirty centimetres in diameter – that pulsed and wriggled slightly.

Carefully, Harry brought the bubble towards him until it was hovering above his hands and, once it was in position, he slowly moved backwards so that his hands were no longer over the lake. Now the bubble was completely separate from the larger body of water, it seemed quite happy to dance however he commanded it to.

Soon enough, he could throw it into the air and make it fly in all directions. It would sit in his hands quite happily without flowing through his fingers and when he sent it up again, his hands were left bone dry as all the water had stayed together.

Next, Harry tried freezing it in one place in the air; it took many attempts and he dropped it quite a few times (he was able to gather the water up from the ground with a command) but eventually he could keep that bubble in place with his left hand, while he got a second bubble from the lake with his right hand.

After only ten minutes, he had nearly mastered two bubbles, so moved to get a third which he then effectively juggled with, making Severus laugh.

With a sudden feeling of power, Harry threw the bubbles back into the lake then used all his willpower to pull as much water out of the lake as he could. It came rushing towards him, but he simply stepped closer to his guardian and sent it around them in a tall cylinder.

Seeing the shocked look on Severus’s face, Harry sent all the water back to the lake and began to laugh.

 _“ **He looks like a fish**_ **.”** Commented Elpis, making Harry laugh.

“Y-you should s-see you face – Elpis says you look like a fish.” He hiccoughed.

The fish looking face morphed into a scowl and Harry laughed again.

“Where did that come from?” demanded Severus.

**_“I think you scared him.”_ **

“I guess you weren’t expecting that. Well, neither was I to be honest with you, but I can make a hurricane out of fire, so why wouldn’t I be able to do it with water?”

“But did you have to do it around us? That was a little unnerving.”

“Sorry.” Harry snickered.

Severus rolled his eyes good naturedly, “We should go back.”

“Yeah, I don’t want the others to have no sleep.”

“I thought you told them to go to bed?”

Elpis gave a kind of snaky snort.

“I did, but that doesn’t mean they listened to me.”

The Potions Master rolled his eyes again, “Come on. I’ll walk you back in case you run into Filch.”

They began to walk, and Harry commented, “I don’t know why he works here; he hates teenagers.”

“It’s hard to get a job when you’re a squib.”

“A what?”

“You don’t know what a squib is?”

Harry shook his head.

“It’s someone who is born in a magical family but has no magical abilities.”

“So, kind of the opposite of a muggleborn.”

“Similar principle, yes.”

“You’re basically saying that he can’t do magic and he works around people who can, so he’s salty about it?”

Severus raised an eyebrow at the phrase, “Yes, he’s _salty_ about it. But Dumbledore is all for giving people chance after chance – he doesn’t think that Filch is dangerous, so he lets him stay.”

“I don’t think he’s dangerous.”

“ ** _Just bad tempered.”_**

Harry snickered and Severus looked at him questioningly.

“Elpis says he’s not dangerous, just bad tempered.”

“Quite. Now, have you thought about trying one of the other elements?”

“I want to try taking the water out of the air before I move on, plus I want to focus on my exams for the next few weeks, but I want to have a go at one of the others soon. Which one do you think I should try?”

“I’m glad you are making an effort with your studies.”

Harry shrugged, “I don’t mind working, plus you’ve helped me a lot and…” he got a little embarrassed, “I want to make you proud.”

Severus stopped and gave his charge a hug.

“I’m already proud.” He whispered, then released him and went back to walking, “But back to the elementals; I would recommend trying Earth first. Air is harder to grasp but easier to master as you never have to learn to create it, it’s always around you.”

“There’s no guarantee I’ll be able to do either.” Replied Harry, cheeks still a little flushed from his guardian’s words.

“No.” the Potions Master agreed, “But you won’t know until you try.”

“ ** _There has never been a known person to be able to master more than one element, you are unique in a lot of ways_**.” Elpis pointed out.

 ** _“True.”_** He thought back, while nodding to his guardian.

They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and Harry entered after saying goodnight to Severus. As he crawled through the whole, Elpis teleported out of his pocket with a farewell hiss, presumably to go and find somewhere warm to sleep.

Harry looked out into the common room and saw that it was deserted except from his four friends gathered in their usual spot around the fire. He made his way towards them.

“Guys, why are you still up; it one o’clock in the morning.”

“We were waiting for you.” Ginny smiled at him.

He smiled back, “That’s really nice guys, thank you - but you didn’t have to.”

“We know that.” responded Hermione briskly, “But we want to know how it went.”

Harry filled his friends in on the successes of the evening then they all made their way to bed.

Only a few hours later, Harry awoke from a nightmare with a burning pain in his scar and sweat soaking his body He checked the time; he still had an hour until he had to get up, but he knew he wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep.

 _“Are you okay, Little One?”_ Elpis hissed in his ear.

 _“I had a nightmare_.” He hissed back, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“ _I thought you didn’t get those anymore?”_ His familiar pointed out.

_“This wasn’t the same as the others.”_

_“Clearly. But how so?”_

_“It seemed real, and there were people I knew in it. Plus, my scar started hurting.”_

_“Talk to the Fish One about it.”_

_“The Fish One?”_ Harry asked, confused.

_“He made a face like a fish last night.”_

Harry had to hold back a snort, “ _You mean Sev? I thought you called him the Hook-nosed One.”_

“ _The Fish One seems more accurate after last night.”_ He could have sworn she sounded like she was shrugging.

_“I will talk to him - after class – but I think that I’m going to go flying for now. Do you want to come?”_

The Alysisian shivered, _“I will stay on the ground and in the warm thank you. You are crazy to go up there.”_

 _“It’s perfectly safe.”_ Muttered Harry as he gathered the clothes he needed.

Elpis made a sort of snaky snorting noise, “ _How many times have you fallen off?”_

Harry just rolled his eyes and grabbed his broom - opting to jump out of the window rather than walking all the way through the castle (not that he would ever admit to his guardian that he had done it) – and zoomed through the air, loving the feel of the wind tugging on his hair.

An hour later he was back in the castle and feeling much better. At breakfast he sent a note up to Severus that read.

****

**_I need to talk to you,_ **

**_Nothing urgent but straight after class would be good._ **

****

The reply came back:

**_Meet me in my office at four o’clock._ **

****

* * *

Knocking swiftly on the door to his guardian’s office, Harry considered what he should say when he went in. He didn’t have enough time to think in between the knock and the call to enter, so he had no idea what to say and just stood there, mouth flopping open every time he tried to talk.

“Now who looks like a fish?” Severus commented with raised eyebrows as he moved towards the fireplace.

Harry snorted as joined his guardian in an armchair by the fire, missing the sassy retort his familiar would have made if she were there and not sleeping in her tree.

“What did you need to talk to me about?”

After a moments pause, he admitted, “I had a nightmare last night.”

“Are the mediations not working anymore?”

“They are in general.”

“But not in this instance?”

“This one was… different.”

“Different how?”

Harry sighed, “It felt more real, plus my scar started to hurt.”

A look of concern, shock and mild fear crossed Severus’s face.

“Describe the dream.” He demanded.

“I was in an old, run-down, dark room, on this huge chair. Peter Pedigrew was in front of me – except it wasn’t me - and we were talking about getting information in order to kill me – the actual me – but then a huge snake arrived and told me there was an old muggle outside the door. I told Wormtail to invite him in; there was a green flash of light and the next second I woke up with my scar burning.”

“Dumbledore was afraid this might happen.” Severus whispered.

“What?” asked Harry, astounded.

“He thinks you have a link because he transferred some of his powers to you when he tried to kill you, that’s what your scar is.”

“He transferred some of his powers to me?!”

“Why do you think you can speak parseltongue?”

Harry shook his head, “So what does do you think it means?”

“Before I tell you, I need to tell you something else. I need to tell you about my role in the First Wizarding War. Please, hear all of what I have to say before you leave or interrupt.”

Harry nodded slowly, nervous of what he was about to be told.

“When I left Hogwarts, I joined the Dark Lords ranks; I was young, foolish and had twisted views of the world. When I realised what I mistake I had made, I turned to Dumbledore and offered to be a spy for the Light and in return he saved he from Azkaban at the end of the war.”

When he looked into Harry’s eyes, he saw fear and disgust.

“You have to believe me, Harry! I am not a Death Eater and I haven’t been for fourteen years. If or when the Dark Lord returns, I will not be going to him, not matter what the punishment.”

“But you joined him, you must have agreed with him to have joined him of your own free will.” whispered Harry, “I-I don’t think I can be around someone who shares his views. I thought you had nothing against muggleborns – what about my mum?!” he was nearly shouting now, “You said you were her friend!”

“Harry, Harry please. I was her friend, right up until fifth year when I made a mistake. Let me explain.” He pleaded.

Harry give a minute nod, allowing him to continue.

“I grew up in the same village as Lily, we were good friends and I was even the one who told her that she was a witch. But when I was put into Slytherin, things started to change; I was brainwashed into the Death Eater mentality, I never hated muggleborns and I never hated Lily, but everyone around me did.”

He drew a deep breath and gave Harry another pleading look.

“We grew further and further apart as she associated herself more and more with the self-named Marauders and I fell deeper in with the soon to be Death Eaters. She tried to stop it, to help me, but the dark arts fascinated me as a way to get back at my own father – ridiculous as that is. In fifth year, I made a mistake and called her a mudblood and she… she never forgave me. Not that I deserved forgiveness.”

He looked into Harry’s eyes softening eyes, which gave him hope to continue.

“With no links to the Light left I fell completely into the dark arts. Being good at potions I became a potioneer for the Dark and quickly climbed the ranks until I was the Dark Lords personal potioneer. Eventually I realised my mistake and turned to spying for Dumbledore.”

He hung his head, “I have never regretted anything as much as saying that one word to your mother, it changed the path I was on. I never once enjoyed the torture or torment of muggle or muggleborns as the other Death Eaters did, I swear to you. I was young and foolish and saw it as my only option.”

There was a long pause where Severus hardly dared to breath, but eventually Harry sighed, “I believe you and I-I still trust you… I know better than anyone what bullying and abuse can do to someone.”

Severus was surprise that Harry remembered the little he had told him about his own childhood but felt now was the time for honesty, “It wasn’t quite bullying, I did retaliate a lot.”

“Four against one is bullying.”

“Most of the time it was only two against one, Lupin had some morals and the Rat was too scared.”

“Still, it can affect you.”

“Maybe but it’s still no excuse. You were bullied and abused throughout your childhood and you are one of the lightest wizards out there.”

Harry shrugged, looked up at him and hesitated, “D-does that mean you have the mark?” He asked hesitantly.

Severus pushed up his sleeve to reveal a light grey, pulsing tattoo.

“When he was first defeated, it was red, but over the past week it has got a little colour in it.”

“Does that mean he’s coming back?”

“He’s trying. He’s not back yet, but he’s trying. That’s why I told you this; I knew that I’d have to tell you eventually, but I didn’t realise that all of this might happen so soon. You have to tell me if you get anymore nightmares, I will try and think of a way to stop them, but it is important for you to tell me.”

Nodding, Harry asked, “Do you think he will manage it this time?”

“This is the closest he has ever come, but nothing is certain.”

“Do you think he will come for me? He’s already tried to kill me three times.”

Severus thought about the prophesy, but knew that the boy in front of him was not even fourteen – surely that was too young to know?

“Nothing is certain.” He repeated, before pulling the teenager in front of him into a hug and whispering, “But I promise that I will keep you safe.”

* * *

A few hours later, Harry was sat in the Great Hall with his Gryffindor friends, having just finished their evening meal. The food had just been cleared and people were about to leave when the Headmaster stood up.

“Before you leave, I have an announcement.” He declared.

Dumbledore very rarely gave announcements after feasts - and if he did it either meant that something very exiting was going to happen or something very bad had already happened – so a lot of mumbling broke out around the room.

After waiting a minute for silence, the old Headmaster continued, “This summer Hogwarts will be offering a weeklong summer camp for eight students from each year that will include many fun activities and end with a trip to the Quidditch Word Cup Final.”

He waited for a few more minutes for the noise to die down again, then said, “This camp will be completely free as it is sponsored by the World Cup, but there are limited spaces; consequently, there will be a competition to determine who gets a place. All those who are interested, please remain in your seats, everyone else may leave.”

There was a flurry of noise and action as everyone conversed with their friends and decided whether to stay or go. In the end, about one hundred and fifty students (half of the school) remained and Professor McGonagall stepped forward and called for silence.

“This competition will take place as soon as exams have been completed. You will work in pairs – no other size of group will be accepted – to create an enchanted object that serves a purpose. You will then be judged by a fair judge on your quality of work as well as the usefulness of the enchanted object.

“You have until the last day of exams to check with your parents or guardians that you have permission to attend and submit the names of yourself and your partner to your head of house. You will then have the two weeks until the end of term to create your enchanted object; they will be submitted the day before the end of term and the winners will be announced at the leaving feast. Any questions?”

“Can we pair with someone from another year?” Asked an older Hufflepuff.

“Not this time, Mr Mclean as it is the top four pairs from each year. Anyone else?”

“What are the dates?” an exited looked Ravenclaw asked.

“From Monday the twenty-second to Sunday the twenty-eighth of August. If that is all, you may leave.”

Harry and his friends looked at each other for a moment, then seemed to read each other’s minds.

“Omnis room, five minutes, bring Luna and the Snakes?” asked Harry while the others nodded.

He moved off to intersect Draco and Daphne, while Ginny gathered Luna.

A few moments later, they were gathered around a table in the Omnis room.

“Right guys, what are the chances we can all go? I’m at Hogwarts anyway so there’s little chance of Sev saying no.”

“We haven’t decided when we’re going on holiday yet, so chances are I can go.” Commented Hermione.

“Me and Daddy are going to Norway to look for Chameleon Kneazles, but that’s at the start of the holidays.”

“We don’t normally go on holiday and it’s free if we win, so we can probably go.”

“Plus, the twins will probably get in, there enchanting is really good.”

“My family is going to Cyprus for July, but we’ll be back in time.”

“I’ll have to ask my father just for the sake of it, but that will only be for appearances, it won’t matter by the holidays anyway.”

“Okay, so chances are we can all go. Who knows anything about enchanting?”

Ron and Neville shook their heads while Draco, Daphne and Ginny nodded. Luna smiled and Harry gave a half nod.

“Me and Luna are obviously going together, as we are in the same year.” Ginny grinned at the blonde girl, “I know a little about enchanting from the twins, so we’ll be fine.”

“Great, so that leaves me, Daphne and Draco with knowledge on enchanting, Harry knows a little and Ron and Neville don’t know much.”

Everyone nodded.

“How about Draco and Harry – that way you can just tell the Slytherins that your father is making you do this – Daphne and Ron, as you know each other best, and me and Neville. That way we all have someone who knows about enchanting. Is that okay?”

Harry nodded and glanced at Draco, for a split second he thought he saw a look of disappointment that was directed at Hermione cross the other boys face, but it disappeared a moment later and he almost thought that he had imagined it.

Ginny saw it too and gave Hermione devilish grin, causing her friend to blush slightly and look down at her lap.

Everyone separated to write to their parents (or Severus in Harry’s case) about the summer camp, then begin their exam revision.

As Hermione kept reminding them, their exams were only four weeks away, which seemed like forever to Harry, but he did want to get good grades – after all, he had a guardian now, and he wanted to make him proud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I need some help from you guys.  
> I need ideas for enchanted projects. I've got ideas for the main characters, but I need some for side characters.  
> If anyone has any ideas at all - not matter how simple or complicated - please let me know.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	14. Make it everlasting [P2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exams, girl talk and the start of the enchanting competiton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I humbly offer a chapter a day late… My sincerest apologies, I have been on holiday and not really in the mood to write after my rabbit died last week.  
> Plus I have been writing my second story :)  
> Anyway, it’s here now;  
> Enjoy :)

The four weeks leading up to exams were quite exhausting. The addition of two more people who took their exams seriously to their group, meant that the few that had previously opposed revision before exams (mostly Ron and Harry) were now encouraged to do the same.

That being said, everyone had different ways of going about their revision: Hermione and Daphne spent hours testing each other, while Neville and Ron went over their notes (one complaining a lot more than the other as they did so) time and time again, with occasional help from Daphne and Hermione,

Meanwhile, Harry, Luna, Ginny and Draco spent some of the time reading over their textbooks (which had more information than their notes) and doing practice questions.

Harry often spent the time in between his evening meal and curfew in his dungeon bedroom working. Sometimes he would get help from Severus, but more often than not his moral support came from Elpis, who would happily hang herself around his neck and keep up a running commentary of sassy comments to keep him relaxed.

When he wasn’t working, Harry made sure to keep working on his water magic; a week after the Easter holidays and he could get a few droplets of water out of the air. A week after that and he could pull together a large ball of water; he knew he wasn’t going to be able to get much more than that, as there was only so much water in the air, but he was delighted anyway.

On the last weekend before exams, the pressure was really starting to get to him. He found that the professors were setting more and more homework, which infuriatingly meant that he didn’t have any time for the revision that he wanted to do.

Seeing his frustration, Severus suggested that he go for a walk to clear his head. Harry liked the idea, so set off around the lake with Elpis safe in his pocket (Severus had to stay and mark some of the for mentioned frustrating homework).

When he was at the furthest possible point from the lake, the heavens opened, and rain started to pour down in torrents. Sighing, he sought shelter from the rain under a nearby group of large trees to see if the worst would pass.

Elpis had teleported home as soon as the rain had started (it was too cold for her liking) so Harry was alone, but he didn’t mind.

After about five minutes, the rain eased from a heavy downpour, but he knew that he would still get soaked as soon as he stepped out from the cover of his tree. As is was, the leaves above him gave him very little shelter; they let little drips and splats hit him, running down his neck in a very comfortable way.

Suddenly, he remembered his powers and wondered if he would be able to create some kind of barrier between him and the rain.

Thinking that he wouldn’t know until he tried, he quickly heated the air about his air to turn it into a handful of flames that could heat his hands. Once they were slightly warmer, he set out pulling water out of the lake and shaping it carefully.

He had never attempted to get water into any other shape than a (sort of) sphere, so trying to bend it into a more umbrella shape was an experience.

It took a few tries, but after about five minutes, Harry was the proud owner of a water umbrella. He held it in place above his head with a fist then carefully concentrated on gathering all of the water than was soaked into his clothes and hair.

Eventually, he was sure he had got most it and the uncomfortable wet hair/jean feeling was gone so he continued his walk around the lake.

He was just about to get rid of the makeshift umbrella (he was too close to the school and didn’t want anyone to see it) when the rain stopped completely. Carefully he threw the water back into the lake – the ground was waterlogged enough already – and looked around.

There was no-one about and he still had a little while before he needed to be back, so he headed to the beech tree that they usually sat by. He was about to sit down when he realised that the ground was still sodden.

Thinking quickly, he held his hands out towards the ground and concentrated on pulling the water up from the small patch that he wanted to sit on. Slowly the droplets rose towards him and formed a ball which he then threw into the lake.

He patted the ground to check that all the moisture had gone and was delighted (as well as a little surprised) to feel that it had.

Happily, he sat and stared into the lake for a while, hearing the far-off screeching of the mer-people and watching the Giant Squid propel itself lazily across the surface, tentacles flicking occasionally. Eventually he rose and moved inside, dreading the exams that were starting the next day.

* * *

At little under two weeks later, the group had just finished their final exams and were gathering for lunch. The boys had offered to go down to the kitchens and request a picnic which left the girls free to go down to the lake and wait.

The four girls sat on the grass under the shade of the breech tree, as the sun was beating down on them.

“So.” Ginny nudged Hermione’s arm, “What was that _look_ between you and Draco?”

“What look?” Hermione feigned innocence.

“Oh, come on.” Ginny snorted, “You know exactly what I mean Hermione Granger. Draco was disappointed that he couldn’t go with you for the competition. Did you want to pair with him?”

“Maybe.” Hermione blushed and Daphne raised her eyebrows in interest, she too had noticed a little spark between the two, but she didn’t think that it was her place to say.

“Has anything happened between you too?”

Hermione blushed brighter and put her head down, her hair created a bushy wall to hide behind.

“Something has hasn’t it? What!?” Ginny shrieked excitedly, making Daphne smirk slightly, she hadn’t been part of one of these boy conversations before – her sister was too young and the only other girl she had really been around was Pansy who only had eyes for Theo.

“He kissed me.” Mumbled Hermione and Ginny shrieked again.

“I think she would like the details.” Commented Luna and Hermione sighed.

“He had just turned into Darrius for the first time and was sat on my knee, then he turned back into Draco.”

“While he was still on your knee?” Daphne asked with raised eyebrows before she could stop herself.

“Yeah.” She gave a shy grin and Ginny smirked devilishly, “I thought he was going to move, but he didn’t then he kissed me.”

“And… What was it like? Then what happened?”

“It was… sweet.” Hermione smiled at the memory, “We just looked into each other’s eyes for a while – his are like molten silver with shocks of ice blue in them – then he leaned forwards. He didn’t kiss me right away, I think that he thought it was going to leave or something, but when he did it was quite short but really sweet. Then he pulled away and we haven’t talked about it since.”

Ginny grinned at the thought of one of her best friends finding someone, then she remembered something, “Wait a minute, did you say when he first became Darius? That was five weeks ago! And we’re only just hearing about it?”

“I hadn’t decided how I felt yet.”

“But you know now, don’t you? The Wrackspurts have gone now.”

“I... I like him.” Hermione near whispered and Ginny had to hold back another screech as she flung herself into her friend’s arms.

“Calm down.” Laughed Hermione and she brushed ginger hair out of her face, “I don’t know if he feels the same though!” she threw her hands up in the air.

“Sorry.” Ginny pulled away with a laugh, “I just think it’s so cute! You should talk to him!”

“I will. Just not yet. Don’t you do anything.” She wagged her finger at Ginny who threw her hands up in surrender.

“I won’t. I’m just so happy for you! I don’t think that we were expecting you to have the first kiss out of all of us.”

Hermione smiled sheepishly, “No, I kind of expect it to be you.”

“I’m only in second year remember. Besides, I was thinking I might go out with Dean next year.”

“Dean? What about Harry.”

Ginny faltered and sent a scared glance at Daphne, who immediately said, “Don’t worry I won’t say anything.”

“Oh, I didn’t think that you would.” Assured Ginny, “I just didn’t think that you knew. We don’t have these conversations often, but I don’t think that you’ve ever been part of one before.”

“I didn’t know, but I can see that he two of you would be cute together. And I understand, these kinds of topics take trust and you haven’t known me for that long.”

“You’re part of our group now.” Ginny grinned, “And there’s no getting out of it. But to answer your question Hermione, I don’t think that he’s going to be coming around to me any time soon, if ever and I would rather… look around, as it were, than fixate on him.”

“I understand where you’re coming from. Plus, Dean’s nice, you’d be cute together.”

“Not as cute as with Harry, but cute.” Added Luna, making Ginny smirk.

“What about you Daphne? Got anyone in mind?” Ginny stretched and picked at some grass.

Daphne was startled to suddenly be the center of attention and a light pink flush came to her cheeks, “Urm, no.”

“Oh? I thought you had a thing for Ron.”

“He’s a good friend and is there for me when I need someone to talk to, but no. I mean, he helped me to get of my nightmares from the Chamber of Secrets and he doesn’t judge me for any problems that I might be having, but we don’t actually have that much in common.”

“It’s hard to get Ron to pay attention to anything that isn’t Quidditch, so he obviously cares about you.” Pointed out Ginny with a wise look of her face.

Daphne was about to retort when the four boys appeared nearby and her face blushed bright red. The girls looked at each other and burst out laughing at how close they were to being caught, thoroughly confusing the four who had just arrived with the picnic.

* * *

The next evening was a little different from usual. It was a Saturday, so Harry and Severus had spent the afternoon together but by early evening they were getting ready to have a guest for dinner.

That morning there had been a meeting for all those who wanted, and had parental permission, to enter the enchanting competition so that the details could be given out. They had two weeks and five days to enchant either an object that would be useful or a game of some kind, then the top four pairs from each year would win a place on the camp.

The group had decided that they would spend the evening in their pairs brainstorming ideas. Daphne and Ron were going to the Room of Requirement (less chance of them being spotted by passing Slytherins) and Ginny and Luna had decided to haunt the Omnis room.

Neville and Hermione were staying in the Lion’s tower and Harry and Draco were meeting in Harry and Severus’s quarters, hence the setting up for dinner. This served a dual purpose of Severus spending a bit of time with his godson (which he hadn’t done a lot of lately) and the two teenagers beginning to work on their project.

Draco was due in ten minutes and Harry was busy pulling on a fresh set of robes (apparently, he wasn’t allowed to wear jeans, not that he really understood what was so special about this meal). The pair usually cooked, but, as they were having a guest, the house-elves were providing the food for the evening.

Not bothering to try and tame his untamable hair, Harry made his way into the living room to be greeted by the sight of his guardian – who was wearing more formal robes than he usually wore for teaching (they were still black, but lined with deep green) – jotting something down in the notebook that Harry had given him for his birthday.

With a jolt, a thought stuck him: the notebook.

In his free time since the competition announcement (not that there had been much), Harry had been racking his brains to think of something for him and Draco to enchant. He had completely forgotten about the notebook that he enchanted – with a lot of help - nearly six months previously.

Suddenly, he was thrown out of his thoughts by a knock on the portrait door. He swiftly made his way across the room, opened the door and greeted the guest.

“Hi Draco.”

“Hey Harry, hey Uncle Sev.” He looked around the room, “I haven’t been in here for a long time.”

“And I apologise for that Draco.” Responded the Potions Master as he smoothly put away his notebook and rose to his feet, “I’m sorry I that I haven’t been the best godfather over the past year and a half.”

“It’s alright, you can help me next year by not letting the Slytherins turn against me when they find out I’m not longer a Malfoy.”

Severus raised an eyebrow, “You may not be a Malfoy, but you will be a Black. They are families of a similar magnitude and power.”

Draco raised his eyebrow to mirror his godfathers, “I did not explain myself fully, I will no longer be an heir. I will not be inheriting from either family.”

“Surely you are the next in line for the Black family?” asked Harry, “Sirius doesn’t have any children, and I doubt he is going to, he is going to disown Bellatrix Lestrange and she doesn’t have any children anyway. Your mother is the next oldest sister is she not?”

Both turned to look at him with matching looks of surprise.

“I thought that you were the heir to the Black family.” Stated Draco.

“But I’m not related to the Black family.” Protested Harry.

“You actually are distantly; I think it was your grandmother – on your father’s side of course – who was a Black. But that’s not the point, it doesn’t matter if you are blood related, you are related by law and so Sirius Black can choose to name you as his heir. I am not certain that he has, but it is likely.”

Harry nodded numbly; he would have to talk to Sirius about this at a later date.

“Shall we go through for dinner?” he asked, and they made their way into the dining room to find that their food had been laid out for them under heating charms.

They began their meal and Harry felt a little awkward as he listened to Draco catching his godfather up on his life. After he had spent a few minutes wondering how he ever managed to become friends with Draco Malfoy.

This was the first time they had ever spent time together without any of their other friends around and he wasn’t quite sure what they would find to talk about, but he eventually remembered something that both Severus and Hermione had told him at different times; that he and Draco could be great friends if they fought together instead of against each other.

They had kept their quidditch rivalry down to something healthy, so he didn’t see why they couldn’t do that with everything else. Thinking about quidditch, he guessed that might be a good place to start…

Severus noticed that Harry wasn’t talking much but was sure that the teenager would join in when he was ready, after all – to his knowledge – the two had not spent that much time together outside of studies. In the meantime, he was determined to not let the conversation laps into an uncomfortable silence.

It wasn’t until they had nearly finished their main course that Harry finally spoke up during a lull in the conversation.

“Draco, I’m not sure I’ve ever asked you; do you support a Quidditch team?”

Severus had to suppress and eye roll, of all the topics in the world, why Quidditch? Then again, if it was a common subject to get the metaphorical ball rolling then he supposed he could put up with it for a while.

Draco looked a little surprised but answered, “I support the Stonehenge Greys. Who do you support?”

“Sounds vaguely familiar, how come you support them? I don’t have a team; I haven’t been into professional Quidditch long enough.”

“They’re my local team, I grew up only fifteen miles from Stonehenge, plus they are near the top of the league most of the time, which is why you have heard of them. And they were these cool silver-grey robes.” He replied a little smugly.

“Huh, I don’t know who my local team is.”

“Local to here? There’s a Hogsmeade team, the Flying Hogs I believe, but they aren’t much good.”

Harry wrinkled his nose in mild disgust at having a bad team as his local team, then smoothed his face out in the realisation that most people had a bad team as their local team.

“What do you think of the outcome for our last game?” he asked.

There was only one quidditch game left in the Hogwarts season, a deciding game between Slytherin and Gryffindor, who had both won there other two games.

“Obviously we are going to beat you.” Draco smirked.

“I wouldn’t be so sure; we won the last two games.” Harry remined him teasingly.

They finished their main course and a House-elf popped in to clear the plates and bring them their deserts. Harry thank the elf and Draco raised an eyebrow but decided not to say anything as they dug into their treacle tart and began to discuss their enchanting project.

“Have you had any ideas for something to enchant?” Harry asked Draco.

“Plenty, but I think that I’m being a bit ambitious with some of them; we’ve not going to be able to enchant a properly working broom.”

“I don’t think so no.” Harry replied while Severus snorted a little, “Let me rephrase, have you had any ideas that you think we can do?”

“Not really,” Draco sighed, “Have you?”

“I hadn’t but I did actually think of something just before you walked in. For Sev’s birthday Professor Flitwick helped me to enchanted him a notebook that had an ink pot and quill stored inside it, plus you could change the colour of the ink. I thought we might be able to develop that slightly, we can put a password on it, make the ink pot bigger…”

“A maybe we can put personalising enchantments on it that changes the colour of the cover and adds you name.”

“So, you like my idea then?” Harry asked with a laugh.

“Yeah.” Draco grinned slightly, “Is there any chance I could have a look at this notebook Sev? You can make it so I can’t see what’s written in it.”

The Potions Master nodded, stood up (they had finished eating) and retrieved the notebook from the next room.

“I can’t give it to you, because Harry put a safety feature that would make it bite your hands off, but I can show you.”

Draco snickered and looked at the front cover.

“I was thinking just solid colours, but now that I’ve seen this, why don’t we do the four houses? Then each could still have the protective moving animal.”

“I like that, good plan. Shall we get started? I have a blank notebook in my room.”

Draco nodded, thanked his godfather for the food and followed Harry into his bedroom.

He looked around his newest friend’s bedroom with a slight look of scorn on his face. It wasn’t a very big room; the furnishings weren’t flashy or expensive and it had a lived-in feel to it.

Watching carefully as Harry straightened the bedclothes on the bed then pulled up a leather desk chair, he saw a hidden look of pride on the other boy’s face that was mixed in with masked nervousness.

Suddenly it hit him how much he was still being influenced by his father, despite hardly speaking to him. For him, it was natural to judge someone on their possessions, as he had always been taught that if you had wealth, you flaunted it and if you didn’t then you tried to hide it.

Once he separated that idea from his personal preferences, he realised that the room actually had a warm, comfortable feeling to it; he felt relaxed, more so then he ever had in his own bedroom.

“This is a nice room.”

“Thanks, I think it’s perfect! Sev let me design it myself and he charmed to ceiling for my meditations.”

Draco couldn’t help but be skeptical at the pride in Harry’s voice; he had never heard anyone talk about a room with genuine pride before, they were always showing it off to flaunt their wealth just as his father had said.

This pride seemed more genuine than any he had ever heard before and yet the room was so much less impressive (by his father’s terms) than any other room he had seen.

Then he remembered a conversation that he’d had, just a few months previously: Hermione had said to him, ‘His bedroom was a cupboard under some stairs for all but one month of his life’. He supposed that anyone who had never had a proper bedroom would be happy with anything, especially if that anything was as welcoming as this.

“Here.” came Harry’s voice and Draco turned to look at him, “You take this seat and I’ll sit on the bed.”

Draco moved towards the leather chair as his friend pulled up himself up to sit cross legged on the bed, while pulling his serpent familiar around his neck. He had been introduced to Elpis months previously and had become used to her pretty quickly (although he still couldn’t get over the idea of knowing someone who was bonded to an Alysisians).

The informal nature of his friends had surprised him at first, until he came to realise that they had not been brought up in the same way that he had. They did not have to be perfect heirs (although at least two of them were heir, whether they knew it or not) and they were allowed to be friends with whomever they chose.

He had never had true friends, just business arrangements. He was made to be friends with all the ‘true’ pureblood heirs (obviously no so-called blood traitors) so that he could be in their good books when they were older, but he didn’t care for any of them. He had to begin with, when they were all young and naive, but as he had grown and seen his father’s influence for what it was, he also saw his ‘friends’ for what they were; bullies.

Out of all of them, Daphne was the only one he truly cared about and who cared about him. She wasn’t like the others, she was quieter, more calculating, but she was fluent in sarcasm and carried a steady flow of wit which made for some interesting conversations. That was why he had brought her with him when he started the transition away from his father; she didn’t need to be caught up in _their_ ways, especially not after the trauma of the Chamber of Secrets.

He lowered himself into the chair after resolving to teach the group a few pureblood society ways later in the year, just so that they could hold their own when meeting important people.

“So, shall we get going?”

Two hours later, it was nearing curfew and they had made a significant amount of progress. So far, they had mapped out the plans and started to work on the basic colour changing spells, but they decided that they needed to stop for the evening.

Quickly, Harry summoned two glasses and filled then with water from the air (something that he could now do pretty mindlessly) forgetting that neither Draco nor Daphne knew about his elemental powers.

Draco stared at him in disbelief, “You can do wandless magic?”

Harry frowned at him for a moment, looked down at the glass in his hand which was now filled with water, and swore under his breath.

“I guess I have something to tell you.” he sighed, before launching into that they had found down in the chamber and the events that had followed – complete with demonstrations.

By the time he had finished, Draco looked like he was in a state of shock. He was so pale he was almost white, and he was hardly breathing at all.

“Urm, Draco? Breathe..?” Harry suggested, and Draco rolled his eyes - as if he hadn’t been trying to do that already.

Slowly, he took a deep breath and Harry saw the colour returning to his face.

“How do you always do this?”

Harry frowned, “Do what?”

“Manage to do something that no one else can do without a second thought.”

He grimaced then laughed, “I don’t know. I hate it, but it always happens, but this did take a lot of effort to learn.”

“Not as much effort as it would have taken literally anyone else. You’ve mastered two elementals in the time that it would take anyone else to master half of one.”

“I guess.” he laughed again, “Do you want to see the books from the studies? You can see which ones you can read.”

“Go down to the Chamber now?”

“Nah, we copied the books and made a library for them. You will only be able to read the books that correlate to which study you can go into thought. So, I expect that you’ll only be able to read Salazar’s books.”

“And there is no-one else who can access more than one study?”

“Well, only eight people have tried, but I was the only one out of those eight. It’s worth checking to see if you can read something from the different studies though.”

Draco nodded and Harry led the way. He gasped when he saw the ancient books that had last been touched by the founders themselves.

As Harry had predicted, Draco could only touch Salazar’s books, but he allowed him to take one or two to read, as he had allowed the others, after a promise that he would not reveal where they came from to anyone.

By this time, it was just after curfew, so Severus escorted Draco back to his common room (it was Saturday and Harry was staying there) and Harry took to opportunity to practice his fire and water magic for the last time before he tried air the next day.

Instead of heading straight for the common room, Severus headed to his office with his godson, as Draco had expressed a desire for a private conversation.

They pulled up two armchairs by the fireplace and sat in silence for a few moments while Draco shifted nervously. Severus did not rush his godson; he could clearly see that he was anxious about something but was confident that he would get it out fairly quickly.

Sure enough, five minutes (and half a cup of tea) later, Draco stopped fidgeting, looked his godfather straight in the eye and said, “What would happen if I went out with a mud – a muggleborn.”

Severus raised his eyebrow, but he wasn’t overly surprised. He prided himself with being an observational man, and his observation had been that Draco and Hermione worked well together; their thought processes were akin to each other and they were alike in their intellectual abilities. Plus there was a definite spark between them.

“I would say that if you call her that, she would no longer be your girlfriend.”

Draco blushed, “Why do you assume that it is a girl?”

“Because I have seen your subtle attempt at flirting with her. Keep in mind that I have known you since you were born, Dragon.” He reminded him of the childhood nickname that his mother (annoyingly) still called him.

Again, Draco blushed, but Severus was unsure if it was because of the nickname or the crush.

“I like her, Uncle Sev and I think she likes me.”

“I see.”

Draco rolled his eyes, “Please don’t give me that.”

“What ever are you talking about?” Severus raised his eyebrows again and Draco sighed.

“I’m talking to you about this because I trust you and want your opinion, not because I want you to go all ‘parent’ on me.”

“And tell me, do you not have friends that you can trust with this information?”

“You suggest I talk to a fellow Snake?” Draco scoffed, “They have the same mindset as my parents – well, Father anyway, I don’t know about Mother.”

“I do not suggest that, you do not trust your fellow Snakes anyway. You have not made true friendships with them and you know it. But you have other friends now.”

“The one I know the best is Hermione. Besides, you have a better grasp on what will happen if she becomes my girlfriend. Will it even matter if I’m not going to be an heir anymore?”

“You are not wrong about me knowing how society will react.” Severus admitted, “You may still be an heir, you will still be Lucius’s son by blood even if not by marriage and if there are no other heirs then either you take it on, or the family dies out. But to answer your first question, you would be accepted more smoothly if she had a recognition from another family, the Blacks wouldn’t work as you are a Black, but the Longbottoms and the Potters are both old families.”

“I could talk to Professor Black; he is the regent for the Potter family.” Draco slipped off into thought for a moment before looking back up at his Godfather, “Do you think it would work?”

Severus looked solemnly down into the teenager’s earnest eyes, “I think that you and Miss Granger are well suited, but you must be sure before you do something as big as this. I suggest talking to Narcissa, I can arrange for her to meet you here if you wish.”

Draco nodded his thanks and stood to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not sure if this recognition thing is commonly used, I haven’t seen it around that much, but there is simply too much fanfiction to look through it all.  
> The way I see it is that if a muggleborn can get recognised by a pureblood family, they are viewed with the respect of a halfblood rather than a ‘mudblood’.  
> I hope that makes sense and if it doesn’t, let me know.  
> If you have any comments, suggestions or mild (I’m a sensitive soul) criticisms then feel free to comment.  
> Hope you enjoyed :)


	15. Make it everlasting [P3]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enchanting ideas, elemental magics, Unforgivables and the schemes of Harry Potter.

The next morning, Harry awoke and made his way down to breakfast with Severus. On reaching the Great Hall they separated, Severus going up to the head table while Harry moved over to his friends at the Gryffindor table, giving Luna, Draco and Daphne a wave on the way past.

No one batted an eyelid at the two arriving together, as it had been a weekly occurrence for a year and a half now, although he did get a few scowls from the Snakes surrounding Draco after the wave.

He slid into his usual spot; halfway down the long table with him, Ron and Neville on one side (he found that made it easier to take no notice of Ron’s disgusting eating habits) with Ginny and Hermione on the other.

“Hey guys.” He greeted them, “How did your project planning go? Know what you’re going to do yet?”

“We thought that something to do with Herbology would be good.” Hermione started.

“So we’re enchanting a watering can to fill itself up and float along, sprinkling water on plants.” Neville finished.

Ron gave a small snort (which Ginny gave him a death glare for), and Harry found himself laughing, “That’s amazing guys, I should have guessed that you’d do something to do with Herbology.”

Neville grinned and Hermione added, “Yes, it’s going to fill itself up, and water whichever plant you point your wand at.”

“Me and Luna have decided on a bookstand.” Ginny interrupted before Hermione could start a rant about all of the features they were going to include.

“A bookstand?”

“Yep, it will float in front of you, or above you if you’re lying down, so you don’t have to hold it up and the pages will turn on command.”

Hermione’s eyes shone and Harry laughed, “I think you’ve found the perfect birthday present for Hermione, Gin.”

“I think so.” Ginny laughed, “As long as it works of course.”

Harry didn’t doubt his friends’ abilities for a second, “It will be perfect, I know it.”

Ginny smiled at him and his heart did a small summersault before beating at double the pace. Trying to ignore it, Harry turned to Ron.

“How about you and Daphne, what did you come up with?”

Ron tried to talk but it was inaudible behind the huge mouthful of food he had. Carefully, he took a big swallow (ignoring everyone’s grimaces) before trying again.

“We couldn’t think of anything.”

“Nothing?”

Ron shook his head and sighed, “We don’t really have many common interests.”

“Does Daphne not like Quidditch?”

“She doesn’t mind it, but she doesn’t love it as much as me.”

Harry grinned, “Mate, no-one loves Quidditch as much as you.”

“True.” Ron matched his grin.

“If she doesn’t hate Quidditch then maybe you can do something around that?”

“What though?”

“Well, you can’t make a hoverboard.” Harry laughed, “That’s what Yasmin – the head girl - is doing.”

“How do you know?”

“We have a few conversations, she’s the Snake who voted for me to be allowed in their common room.”

“I think Percy has a crush on her.” Ginny laughed, “He spends so much time doing head boy duties with her, and I’ve seen him come back with a very dreamy look in his eyes a few times. He’s a lot nicer after he’s been with her too.”

Harry raised his eyebrows and Hermione – after letting out a small giggle - tried to bring the conversation back on track, “Ron, how about you make a game?”

“What kind of game, ‘Mione?”

“There’s a muggle game called foosball, or table football – do you know what football is?”

“It’s like Quidditch on the ground isn’t it?”

“Yes, but there’s only one ball and one hoop.”

“Sounds boring but go on.”

“You have to turn and move the handles to make the players move and kick the ball, it’s hard to explain but I’m sure I will be able to find you a book after breakfast. Anyway, you could make a Quidditch version, instead of handles, you can direct them like chess pieces, and you can make something happen when someone scores.”

“I’m not quite sure I understand what you’re saying, but it sounds like it could be good, do you think you could come to the Room of Requirement with me and Daphne after breakfast to explain it?”

“Sure.”

Once Hermione and Ron had arranged themselves, Ginny turned to Harry, “So, what are you and Draco doing?”

“Did I ever tell you want I got Sev for his birthday?” Ginny shook her head, so he continued, “I got him a notebook, with a bluetit on the front Professor Flitwick helped me to put safety enchantments on it and colour enchantments on the ink, so me and Draco are developing that idea.”

“Sounds pretty cool.”

“Yep.” Harry speared a sausage on the end of his fork then suddenly remembered the events of the night before, “He knows by the way.”

The group all turned to look at him, wondering what Draco now knew.

Hermione worked it out first, “He knows about your elementals?”

Harry nodded and Hermione looked impressed, “How did he work it out?”

“He didn’t.” Harry laughed and Hermione’s face fell.

“What happened then?”

“I summoned two glasses and filled them with water without thinking, he thought I was doing a wandless Aguamenti, so I had to explain.”

“Harry!” Hermione groaned before bursting into laughter, “You need to be more careful!”

* * *

A little while later, Harry was back in his dungeon bedroom by himself.

Hermione would be joining him in a while – once she had sorted out Daphne and Ron – to further her own elemental powers (in the many weeks she had been practising, she could now successful make a flame flicker on command) but for now he was alone.

Happily, he sat on his bed, closed his eyes and concentrated on what the book (Rowena Ravenclaw’s own book) had told him.

For fire he had to focus on his heart’s fire, for water he had to think about the water within his body and blood, and for air he had to concentrate on the air moving around his body.

He knew this element was very different from the other two; he would never have to create air, as it was always around him, but it was harder to master outright because of other forces effecting it.

Slowly, he began to take deep breaths. At first, he concentrated on pulling the air into him, then after a few breaths he focused on where the air was going; down his windpipe, into his lungs, through his bloodstream and finally into his cells, giving him the oxygen he needed to get his body to work.

Raising his hand, Harry moved each finger, trying to comprehend how each little movement required the oxygen from the air and in turn, the air moved as his did, so that he could do anything without it resisting.

He thought about the air that was pressed up against every inch of him, he could feel the slight breeze as he moved his hand. Carefully, he imagined his intent moving with the oxygen traveled down to his fingers until it reached the very tips and was pushed out into the air.

After doing that a few times, he raised his other hand, so that they were facing each other - about twenty centimetres apart - before trying to push the air with his right hand again.

Suddenly, he felt a strange pickling sensation on his right hand and a gentle force on his left. He had moved the air!

Before he could try again, there was a knock at the portrait door, and he opened his eyes.

**_Please can you see if that’s Hermione?_ **

Elpis disappeared, appeared a second later, gave a kind of nod and disappeared again. Harry pulled himself off his bed and pulled open to portrait door to reveal Hermione and Elpis (who was happy with any of his friends) wrapped around her neck.

“Hey Hermione.” He ushered he into his room and they both sat on the bed, “Have you sorted Ron and Daphne out?”

“Yeah.” She sighed, then gave a laugh, “It’s hard to explain a muggle concept like that to people who grew up in the wizarding world, but they like the idea.”

“That’s good, it could work really well.” Hermione summoned a candle and Harry lit it with only a second of concentration.

“I wish I could do that.”

“You will be able to eventually, you’re making progress.”

“Not much.” She sighed, then looked more hopefully, “How are you doing with yours?”

“Well, I just tried air for the first time, and I think I made something happen, but it wasn’t much.”

“Amazing! Three elements!”

“Yep, it’s pretty cool. But I managed something even cooler yesterday.”

“What can be ‘cooler’ than three elemental powers?” Hermione laughed.

“Doing two at the same time..?”

Hermione looked at him in shock, “You can do that..?”

Harry just grinned and concentrated on heating the air and pulling the fire into a cylindrical shape, about thirty centimetres high and ten centimetres wide. Once he had created his mini fire hurricane, he held it in place with his left hand (something that had taken quite a lot of practice) while focusing the other hand to the task of creating a second hurricane, this time in water.

This done, he led the two a dance around each other, moving them as quickly as he could without it getting dangerous and even managing to combine the two, water and fire fighting for dominance in a single hurricane.

After a few minutes, he let it dissolve into the air and turned to look at Hermione who was frozen in awe. Harry laughed, breaking her out of it.

“You’re right, that is ‘cooler’.”

Harry raised an eyebrow, “Shall we get back to practising?”

Hermione nodded and turned to her candle while Harry closed his eyes and held his hands up again.

As he had before, he thought about the air within and surrounding his fingers before pushing it away, towards his other hand. This time, he felt a small but definite rush of air hitting his left hand, while his right hand felt the prickling sensation that signified the air moving into the space that he had cleared.

He opened his eyes and tried a few more times successfully. Seeing that Hermione was watching him, rather than focusing on her candle, he turned his palm towards her and pushed, smirking at the look of surprise that crossed her face when she felt the slight breeze on her cheek.

“Well done. Can you blow out the candle you think?”

“You’re supposed to be using that candle, Hermione.” He laughed.

“True. It’s just fascinating to watch you master such an unusual skill.” She replied earnestly.

Harry laughed again, “Well I’m not going to master it if you keep staring at me. Do you need any pointers with the candle?”

“I do have a question actually, when you’re doing it, do you just think about what you want to happen?”

He shook his head, “You’re getting the candle to flicker, which means you have enough intent, but you need to visualise and imagine, not just think.”

“Visualise. Visualise.” She muttered to herself, closing her eyes and holding her hand by the candle.

Harry continued to watch and a minute later, they were rewarded when the flame bent towards her hand.

“Hey Hermione, you managed it.” He said softly.

Her eyes flew open and she gasped, “Did I?”

“Yep. Keep going, you’re doing amazing.”

She grinned and he went back to his own work.

Three hours later, it was time to stop for lunch, but they had both made a lot of progress. Hermione could make the flame bend towards her hand pretty easily from any direction and Harry could push air away from his hand with enough force to blow out candles and ruffle Hermione’s bushy hair.

* * *

One week later, Harry had another vision.

It had been a pretty relaxing week; exams were over so the professors weren’t giving out homework, this meant that Harry had plenty of time to work on his enchanting with Draco (they had made some real progress) and his air abilities, which had come a long way.

He was now able to bend his wind so it could move around objects instead of hitting them, meaning that it was harder to block the rushing air and he could hit his target more easily.

Before he had gone to bed (it was Saturday night and a little under two weeks until the end of term) he had even been successful in lifting a feather off a table with a gentle but constant wind.

These events found him in bed, happily dreaming about how he could improve Quidditch matches using these abilities, when a vison from Voldemort took over.

Once again, he was in the run-down room with the huge chair. The snake he had seen in the last dream was coiled up, asleep on the carpet, but at the sound of footsteps its head shot up.

Pedigrew walked into the room, bowed and spoke, “My Lord, I bring news.”

Harry heard himself speaking in a spitting voice, “You bring news two weeks too late Wormtail.”

The short man flung himself down and begged forgiveness, but Harry saw himself lift his wand and utter, almost lazily “Crucio.”

Pedigrew writhed and screamed, but Harry just laughed. After a few minutes, he let the curse go and the man before him lay on the floor panting and twitching slightly.

“You know you deserved that Wormtail. Now tell me your news, it had better be worth the wait.”

“My L-lord.” Pedigrew panted, “I have found Crouch and he wants to help.”

Harry let out a cackling laugh and then was jolted out of his dream by a burning in his scar.

Quickly he sat up, grabbed a t-shirt, pulled the water out of the air to make it damp and held it against his forehead to cool himself down.

After a few seconds, the pain left, and he was able to cast tempus. It was six in the morning and breakfast wasn’t for another hour at least, but he pulled himself out of bed to make a cup of tea.

When he got to the kitchen, he found Severus sat, coffee in hand, marking exams.

He looked up at the noise, saw Harry and commented, “You’re up early.” Before looking down again.

“I had another dream.”

His head shot up and he stood abruptly, “What happened?”

Harry explained, hesitated then asked, “What is Crucio?”

Severus began to make a tea for Harry as a stall for time, but eventually asked, “Do you know about the three Unforgivables?”

Harry shook his head and his guardian continued, “There are three Unforgivable curses, such named because a single use of them will earn you a lifetime in Azkaban. The first is the killing curse, the incantation for which is Avada Kedavra.”

He glanced at Harry to check that he was ok but was met with a pale face and wide eyes.

“Is - is the killing curse green?” he whispered.

When Severus nodded slowly, Harry fell down into a chair. The Potions Master shoved the tea into the teenager’s hands and pulled up a chair next to him.

“H-he used it on my mum. Riddle used the killing curse on my mum.”

“How do you know that, Harry?” Severus asked gently.

Harry turned his face towards his guardian and Severus forced himself to look into the green eyes, despite the pain they gave him – it was still as fresh and raw as if she had died yesterday.

“When the dementors come, I can hear her screaming and a high laugh, and I see this green flash of light.”

Severus couldn’t stop the tears that fell down his face and his pulled his charge into an embrace. It wasn’t clear who was comforting who.

“It’s okay, he’ll be gone for good one day. It’ll be okay.”

They stayed liked them for a few minutes before Severus summoned tissues for them both.

“The second Unforgivable is the Imperius curse, the incantation is Imperio and it is an Unforgivable because you can force someone to do whatever you want, and they don’t have a choice in the matter. It’ yellow. There are a few people that are immune, mostly Gryffindors as you lot are too stubborn for your own good.”

Harry managed a small smile and asked, “Is there any chance I am immune?”

“There is a slim possibility. Most people become immune eventually, but that’s only after being under it for years at a time.”

“Is there any way of finding out?”

“Only if someone casts the spell on you.”

“Can you cast the spell on me?”

“I can, but I’m not going to. Harry as I said, use of a single unforgivable will land you in Azkaban for life.”

“But if I can throw it off then I have an advantage over Riddle. You said yourself, he will return, and he seems to have a fixation on me for some reason, so I should be prepared.”

Severus shifted uncomfortably but Harry didn’t notice, “We will try it once. Stand up.”

He moved the table so that they would have more room but left a single chair next to them.

Quickly he cast, “Imperio.”

Immediately, a voice filled Harry’s head, it told him to jump onto the chair. Obediently, he bent his legs ready to jump, but a second voice tunnelled into his head, it asked him, why?

Confused, he listened to both voices, one commanding that he jump and the other questioning why.

Suddenly, there was a pain in his knees and both voices left.

“What happened?” he asked, slightly confused.

“The voice that was telling you to jump was my command from the spell, the voice that was telling you not to was yourself. For most people, the commanding voice is a lot louder, drowning out your own voice, but there are about equal for you, which meant that you tried to jump and not at the same time and crashed into the chair.”

“So, you’re saying I’m immune?”

“Not quite, you didn’t actually throw of the curse, but you could become immune if you practised a bit more.”

“Can we try again? We still have half an hour until breakfast.”

Severus sighed, but raised his wand again.

This time, the voice was telling Harry to sing the Hogwarts song. He opened his mouth to sing the first line but was able to shut it again because of a command from the other voice in his head. Carefully, he focused on his own voice and ignored the other and with a grunt he threw off the curse.

Panting, Harry could see that Severus was quite impressed.

“Would you be okay for one more?” he asked, “I know this is exhausting but you’re close to being able to do this pretty quickly.”

Harry nodded and prepared himself, this time the voice told him to create a handful of flames, but he wouldn’t let himself even raise his hand, instead concentrating on the smaller voice and blocking out the other. Once again, he threw off the curse, this time quicker than before.

“Well done.” Severus congratulated him and gave him a new cup of tea, before putting the table and chairs back to rights.

“To answer your initial question, Crucio is the incantation for the third and final Unforgivable course, the Cruciatus curse. It’s red and,” he paused for a second before continuing, “It’s the torture curse.”

A sudden twist occurred in Harry’s stomach and he whispered, “I tortured someone.” Then he gagged.

Quickly, Severus summoned a nausea potion and poured it down his throat. Once Harry had calmed down, he spoke.

“Harry, look at me,” green eyes met black once more, “you did not torture anyone, Riddle did.”

Harry looked like he was going to object, but Severus ploughed on, “It was not you. And I may have a way of stopping these visions.”

“You do?” Harry was hopefully.

“Occlumency.”

“You that will help?”

“I believe so, but I didn’t expect you to know what it was.”

“Draco told me when I was teaching them to meditate.”

“Teaching whom?”

“Draco, Daphne, Luna, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville. Everyone.”

“Any particular reason?”

“Daphne was having nightmares and the rest thought it would be helpful.”

“It is very useful to know how to meditate. I knew Daphne was struggling after the Chamber, I have had a few meetings with her about it, do you know if the nightmares have stopped?”

“I think so, yes.”

“Very well, thank you. So, Occlumency. I think that it will help you, but it is not easy to learn, although it may be easier for you because of your previous mediation experience.”

“Please can you teach me?”

“We can have one lesson a week – let’s say, Sunday evening in my classroom – but you must practise every day. You may bring your friends.”

“Thank you.” Harry reached over and gave his guardian a hug.

“Your welcome, child.”

“I’m not a child.” Pouted Harry and Severus laughed.

“If you were not a child then you would not be pouting like that.” Harry joined in the laughter and the two separated in order to get ready to go down for some much-needed breakfast.

* * *

After breakfast, Harry made his way to his Godfather’s rooms. He had been wanted to talk to Sirius for a week, but he had been busy with his Lord duties; now however, he was at Hogwarts as it was nearing full moon and he needed to cover Remus’ lessons.

He made his way through the portrait of the witch who claimed to be related to him and into the living room of Sirius’ quarters.

“Padfoot?”

“Just a sec!” came the reply.

He made himself comfortable on the sofa (these quarters were almost like a third home to him by this point) and waited for Sirius to appear.

Moments later, a big black dog came bounding in and pounced on him before licking his face.

“Padfoot!” Harry tried to complain while laughing, “Geroff!”

The grim moved backwards and changed back into Sirius to grin at his godson.

“So, what can I be doing for you pup? You seemed to suggest that you had something you wanted to talk to me about.”

“Yeah, I need you to explain how the wizarding pureblood lord thing works.”

Sirius laughed, “How much time do you have? It takes most people from birth until age seventeen to learn this stuff.”

Harry grimaced, “Yay me. I don’t want to know all the customs right now, just the basics of what and why.”

“Okay.” Sirius took a deep breath, “There are three types of pureblood houses or families. You have the Noble Houses; they are about ten generations old and include houses like Zabini and Lovegood. Then you have the Ancient and Noble Houses; they are about twenty generations old and include houses like Bones and Prince. Finally, you have the Most Ancient and Noble houses; they are the Sacred Twenty-Eight, plus a few extra, like Potter.

“Potter wasn’t included in the Sacred Twenty-Eight because they stood up for muggleborns too much, but the family is just as old. This means that you hold more sway in the Wizengamot and you only have to bow to Lords who are on the same level as you, although you can learn about the customs later.”

“So, I come from a very important family?”

“Important and rich. You will have seen your trust vault, which is for until you turn seventeen, but you also have an investment vault, a gold vault and a possessions vault.”

Harry raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“I’ll teach you how to start making investments, it’s something that the Potter family is well known for.”

“Before you do, who is in charge of the Potter family at the moment?”

“I am the regent; I look after everything until you turn seventeen.”

“Not that I don’t think you’re doing a good job, but why you?”

“Because I was named in your parents will.”

“My parents had a will? Why did I go to the Dursleys them?”

“Well, I was named first to take you, but I was locked up, Remus would have been second but because of his furry little problem it wasn’t legal. Alice Longbottom was actually second, but she couldn’t take you either…”

“Alice Longbottom as in, Neville’s mum?”

“Yep, she was good friends with your mother. That’s why she was named your godmother.”

“Wait what? I have a godmother?”

“Yes, and your mother was Neville’s godmother.”

“Woah.”

Sirius nodded mutely, “Then came your aunt and uncle. Though I would have taken over guardianship of you when I was freed, if Severus hadn’t of already.”

“Yeah, I got that from when we first met.” Harry commented dryly.

“Don’t remind me.” Sirius groaned and Harry smirked, “Anyway, Dumbledore was the regent, but I took over when I got freed.”

“Makes sense. And who is the Black heir?”

“You, why?”

“Who would it be if I couldn’t or wouldn’t have it?”

“Draco Malfoy, why?” Sirius narrowed his eyes.

“Well, I have a bit of an idea…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> So, next week will be a double upload, the last chapter of this story and the first chapter of next.  
> Let me know your thoughts and hope you enjoyed :)


	16. Make it everlasting [P4]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Occlumency lessons, the end of year feast and a vist to Gringotts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the final chapter, and a day early no less!  
> Enjoy :)

It was a Sunday evening, a week and a half away from the end of term and Harry, with all his friends, were trooping up to the Potions classroom for their first Occlumency lesson.

They knocked on the door and entered to see Severus rolling his eyes at the size of the group and transfiguring nine stools into armchairs in the centre of the room. He took one himself and motioned for the others to sit in the remaining eight.

When they were all settled, he began.

“The first step towards Occlumency is building a mindscape in which you can store your memories. You need to think of a place that you feel comfortable in and can hold your memories, for me it is a tree, an ancient oak. My memories are stored in each leaf with the most important at the top. Mr Potter?”

“Hogwarts.” Harry answered simply, “I have safe rooms that can be protected, each brick within them is a memory.”

“Good. Miss Granger?”

“A library.” Everyone smiled, including Hermione and Severus.

“I don’t think anyone is surprised. Each book is a memory?” he asked, and Hermione nodded, “Good, you can put enchantments on the books to protect them and leave false memories. Mr Weasley?”

“A sweet shop.” He grinned and everyone laughed allowed, “Each sweet is a memory.”

“Unconventional but fitting. I believe that will work well. Miss Weasley?”

“A grassy hill. There are little places to hide and small trees that hold memories.” She looked a little dreamy.

“You will know it better than anyone, I am sure. Mr Longbottom?”

“A badger’s sett. A maze of tunnels, crossroads and dead ends.”

“And the memories?”

“There are small rooms, each containing memories. As you get deeper, the memories get more important.”

Severus nodded, “Miss Lovegood?”

“My forest. Each tree is a memory and the animals help me to protect them.”

“Have you already begun this process, Miss Lovegood?”

“I have to order my thoughts, or what I say won’t make sense.”

Severus couldn’t reply without snorting, so he gave a nod and moved on quickly, “Miss Greengrass?”

“A stream, each memory is a pebble on the riverbed.”

“That will work well. Mr Malfoy?”

“A lake. The memories are in chests at the bottom and you have to retrieve them in order to examine them.”

“An innovative design.” Severus commented and Draco nodded in thanks, “This first lesson is about building your mindscape, your happy place. Do not worry about the memories yet, just build everything in your mind’s eye. There is no wrong way to do this.”

An hour later, everyone had completed their mindscape and the lesson was over.

“Over the next week, I want you to get to know your mindscape. By next Sunday you should know every nook, cranny and hiding spot in your happy place. Next week you will start to organise your memories.”

Everyone stood up to leave but Harry stayed behind to talk to Severus.

“I can see how this will keep my memories safe from invasion, but how will it stop the visions?”

“You will create a hiding space where the visions cannot reach you, but you won’t be able to do that until you have sorted everything else though. It will be about a month until you have organised everything, and another month on top of that to fortify it. You should be able to stop the visions before the start of next year.”

Harry wanted to scream that it wasn’t good enough, that he just wanted these visions to go away, that he didn’t want to torture anyone but he was still thinking rationally enough to know that Severus was helping him to do this as quickly as he could.

Severus seemed to sense his internal struggle and pulled him into a comforting hug that effortlessly pushed away all of his anger.

* * *

One week later and half of the school was frantically working on their objects for the enchanting competition while the other half were basking on the June sun.

Harry had taken an hour out of every morning that week to continue his occlumency meditations (on top of the half hour that he spent meditating before he went to sleep every night), he found it quite easy to get to know his mindscape.

He had spent a lot of time on previous holidays finding every little nook and secret runnel there was within the large castle and he could now get anywhere he wanted, fairly easily.

When he hadn’t been working on his occlumency skills, he was with Draco working on their enchanting project. The only thing they had left to do was the colour changes, which was good because they only had three days until the deadline.

And when he hadn’t been working on enchanting, he was working on his elementals. He could now levitate much bigger and heavier items (even humans, although he had trouble putting them down safely as Ron found out the hard way) and he was starting to be able to form a hurricane with high speed winds.

After their occlumency lesson on Sunday, the group put together their heads and came up with a plan for the end of year feast that would rival the Weasley twins…

Wednesday arrived quickly, and before they knew it their projects were all turned in (they had to go into a room in their pairs and show the judges their projects) and all they had to do was wait until the leaving feast for the announcements and set up for their little surprise.

At Thursday lunchtime, Harry and Neville made their way down to the kitchens to pick up a picnic and ask Dobby for some help.

On entering the kitchens, Dobby rushed up to them.

“Master Harry Potter Sir! Dobby is pleased to see you, would yous like a picnic?”

“Yes please Dobby,” Harry replied cheerily, “And I would like to ask you a favour.”

“Dobby will do anything for the Great Master Harry Potter Sir.” Announced Dobby after clicking his fingers to gather a picnic.

Harry pulled a large bottle out of his robes, “This is a bottle of Mood Hair. We wanted everyone to have some as a farewell present, do you think that you could put it in the pumpkin juice for tonight, please?”

“It is not harmful?” Dobby asked.

“It’s completely safe,” Harry promised, “Just very funny.”

“Dobby will do it.”

Harry grinned, thank him and then left with the picnic. This was going to be an interesting feast.

That evening, everyone gathered in the Great Hall for the leaving feast. There were a few guests up at the head table who were there for the judging of the competition and all of the teachers were in attendance, even Trelawney and Filch, who only showed up for special occasions.

The food was delicious as always and the pudding had just appeared when shouts rang out all around the hall. Everyone had different coloured hair; Harry’s friends all had purple (exited) hair, while many around the room red (angry) hair.

There were a few couples that had pink hair (Percy, who had been staring at the head girl, was one of these, although his hair quickly turned green – embarrassment – when he realised) and quite a few people around the room had yellow (happy) hair.

At the head table, the teachers were all different colours. Sirius and Remus both had purple hair, while Flitwick, Sprout and McGonagall all sported yellow and Severus had green. Funnily enough, not one of the teachers had red hair, which Harry just took as proof that they didn’t mind pranks as much as everyone thought they did.

After a few minutes, people started to ignore their hair, although there were a few shouts of laugher when people changed to and from different colours.

Eventually, the meal was finished and Dumbledore (sporting bright yellow hair) cleared the tables then stood up for his speeches.

“Before we say farewell, I need to introduce a few people so that they can announce the winners for the enchanting competition.”

Harry zoned out a little, as he had already been introduced to each of them when he and Draco presented their project, but he kept an ear out for any important information.

“First, we have Ludo Bagman, he is the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports.”

A man clearly a little past his prime, with round blue eyes, short blond hair and a squashed nose, stood and gave a little wave.

“Mr Bagman is in charge of organising this summer camp. Next is Sam Trough, she is running the summer camp as she has had experience running both muggle and magical summer camps in the past.”

A short but slim lady (Harry guess about thirty in age) with blue and purple hair as well as a nose piercing stood and gave a cheerful wave.

“Finally, Charlie Weasley. He is helping to run the camp also.”

“You never told me that your brother helped with summer camps.” Harry hissed to Ron.

“Sorry mate. He likes to work with ‘kids’, he calls them, during the summer.” Ron whispered back and Harry turned back to the front just in time to here Dumbledore say.

“The four of us were in charge of judging your projects and have spent most of the day doing so. I shall now read out the list year by year. Be warned that our decision is final, but that I will not hesitate to take this privilege away from you if you throw it about.” He looked over the top of his glasses at everyone and a chill passed through the room.

He started to read out the list of first year students (a lot of purple hair was seen around the room) but Harry didn’t know any of them; he recognised a few from seeing them around, but didn’t know any of their names.

In first place were two Snakes (who had successfully enchanted a dicta-quill), in second place was two Lions, third place was a Badger and a Lion, and fourth place was two Snakes.

First place for the second years went straight to Luna and Ginny for their book stand, second place went to a pair of snakes and third and fourth place both went to pairs of Badgers.

Then it was time for Harry’s year and Hermione’s hair went a nervous shade of orange.

In first place were Daphne and Ron for their 'amazing and impressive' Quidditch game, second place went to Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott for a communication diary that they had enchanted, and third place went to Draco and Harry for their notebook.

Hermione’s hair was becoming a more vivid shade of orange by the second, all of her other friends had got in, but she was worried that her and Neville would be the only ones who didn’t make it.

Finally, Dumbledore read out their names as fourth place, they had done it! All eight of them would be going to the camp (they were all excited and now had _bright_ purple hair) and there would be no other Slytherins around the bother Draco and Daphne.

Dumbledore continued down the list and Harry listened out for any good ideas (Sirius was training him to look for good investments).

The fourth-year winners were two Eagles with some enchanted cleaning products, second and third place both went to pairs of Lions and fourth place was given to a pair of Snakes.

The fourth-year winners were two Eagles with some enchanted cleaning products, second and third place both went to pairs of Lions – one of whom was Katie Bell - and fourth place was given to a pair of Snakes.

For fifth year, the winners were two badgers (Harry recognised one of them as Cedric Diggory, seeker for the Hufflepuff team) with a snitch that could be set to different heights and let of a beep for players who couldn’t see very well. In second place were the Weasley twins, third were Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet and fourth were a Badger and a Snake.

In first place for seventh year, were – as Harry predicted – Yasmin and her Eagle friend with a working hover-board that Harry immediately had his eye on. He knew that he would have to talk to her before they all went home.

Second place were a Lion and Badger who had somehow got a Venus Fly-trap to hum a tune that would entice pesky flies into its grasp, third place went to a pair of Eagles and fourth place went to a Snake and an Eagle.

Dumbledore congratulated all the winners and those who had participated before asking them to stay behind after the feast. During his end of year talk (hope you’ve had a fun year, learnt a lot, have a good summer, blah blah blah) Harry looked around the room.

The Snakes around Draco and Daphne all had bright red hair, clearly, they were angry at not getting into the camp as were a few other people around the room. But most people had either yellow or purple hair, showing their excitement at being able to go home for two months.

Eventually, Dumbledore let everyone go and the fifty-six (which Harry realised was actually a fair chunk of the school) winners gathered at the front.

The Headmaster gave a few more details and congratulated them one again before encouraging them to go and pack.

Hissing to his friends that he would meet them back in the common room, Harry quickly followed and caught up to Yasmin as she left

“Hey, Yasmin. Can I have a word?”

“Hey Harry. Sure, what’s up?”

“Who did you partner with?”

“My friend, Dani, we both like Quidditch so we thought why not?”

“Is she still nearby?”

“Yeah, she’s just over there look. Oi, Dani!”

A tall girl with straight light brown hair and a Ravenclaw uniform worked over.

“Hey Yaz. Ah, you must be Harry Potter, Yaz has told me about you.”

Harry grinned, “She’s done a good job of showing me the ropes. But I actually have a question for the two of you.”

“Shoot.”

“How you got any plans for your hover-board?”

“Not really, we’d thought about trying to sell it, but we don’t think that the market is there.”

“Well, I think that there is a market for it and I want to talk to you about the possibility of me being your financial backer.”

The two looked at each other.

“It would be amazing to open a shop. I have some ideas for other Quidditch related items as well.” Admitted Dani.

“If you wanted to open your own shop, I would be willing to invest in you. After you give me a business plan of course.” He grinned and the two older girls couldn’t help grinning back.

“Quite the businessman. But you aren’t old enough to access your finances?”

“No. Lord Sirius Black is my regent and he is showing me the ropes. He will handle the actual legal bits, but I will be in charge of the details. What do you say?”

“How about we discuss it and get back to you? We’ll all be at the summer camp, so we’ll have started the business plan by then.”

“Sounds good.” He grinned again and gave a short bow to each of them in turn, “Congratulations on winning by the way.”

Happily (and his hair showed it) he made his way back to the common room to pack (of course he had left it to the last minute).

The next day, everything was in chaos as people remembered forgotten belongings and tried to stuff themselves onto the train. It was a lot simpler for Harry, who only had a rucksack with a few essentials in; so he couldn’t be in better spirits.

No-one had coloured hair anyone as the charm had worn off, but the group had been congratulated by the Weasley twins – a big deal as they were doing a good job of building a legacy for themselves.

The group found a compartment together (Daphne and Draco decided to hide from their fellow Snakes for the last time) and settled down to enjoy the long ride. Harry found it relaxing and the journey flew by as they talked, practice their Animagus forms and occlumency, and played games.

In no time at all, they were all saying goodbye to each other on the platform. Harry found the time to say goodbye to his Slytherin friends – who he hadn’t seen much of recently as there hadn’t been any need to study – and the head girl, as well as greeting the various parents.

Daphne’s family had been especially grateful, explaining that they owed him a life debt (a huge deal in the wizarding world) for saving their daughter, and that anything he needed help with, they would be there. That made Harry think, and he left through the floo back to Hogwarts in a very contemplative mood.

He found Severus in his office, finishing off his Head of House duties and apologised for interrupting him before asking.

“What happened to that Basilisk?”

Severus looked surprised, “Funny that you mention it, I finished processing it a week ago and meant to ask you about it. What would you like to do with it?”

“How much of it do you want?”

“Hogwarts can’t afford much of it…” Severus started but Harry interrupted.

“No, how much do you want? Sirius has been filling me in on some of the details; apparently, I’m sitting on a small fortune, I’d don’t need any more money. I want you to take as much as you need, then sell the rest. I then want to take that money and split it among all of the people who have been directly affected by the Chamber.”

Severus stared at him in surprise for a few seconds then smiled, “You’re so much like your mother. There were a few times I thought her heart would explode for how big it was.”

Harry smiled and moved around the desk to give his guardian a hug, “So you like my plan?”

“Yes.” Severus smiled down at him.

“Do you think that you could help me make a list of everyone who was effected by the basilisk? I don’t know who was petrified fifty years ago. Then I can send out letters and ask them to come to a meeting, the day after my birthday do you think?”

“I think that sounds good yes; I’ll know how much money it will have made by then.”

“Perfect.” Harry rubbed his hands together and made his way out of the room to find Remus for a cup of tea.

Meanwhile, at Gringotts…

Draco was walking next to his mother and a little behind Sirius, with whom he had had a few conversations of the last six months. They were at Gringotts to get his separate his mother and his father, which filled him with anxiety.

He had no idea how people were going to take it, if his father would turn against them or if society would turn against them. This sort of thing wasn’t very common.

The goblin that was in front them (Steelheart, in charge of Black finances) led them into a small conference room in which were sat three people, who stood as Sirius entered the room.

Sirius introduced Draco to the three people across the room; his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin - Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora Tonks - none of whom he had properly met.

After the introductions, they all sat around the table and Sirius began the proceedings.

“Firstly, I would like to bring Dromeda back into the family and formally welcome her husband and daughter. Cissa and Steelheart, if you would please be my witnesses?”

The two nodded and he began the process, “I, Lord Sirius Orion Black, do welcome Andromeda Tonks nee Black back into the Black family and award her 50,000 galleons as compensation for being shut out unjustly. So mote it be.”

There was a small flash of light.

“I'm assuming there was neither dowry nor bride price?” Sirius asked Ted who shook his head nervously.

“Very well. I, Lord Sirius Orion Black, do accept Ted Tonks and his daughter, Nymphadora Tonks, into the House of Black and welcomed husband and daughter, respectively, of Andromeda Tonks nee Black. They shall each receive 25,000 galleons as compensation for being shut out unjustly and Ted Tonks shall receive a further 50,000 galleons as a dowry. So mote it be.”

Andromeda had been somewhat expecting the gift (she had been brought up with the old ways after all) but it was all Ted and Tonks could do to not gasp – that was a lot of money for someone who wasn’t a pureblood.

“Next, I, Lord Sirius Orion Black, do annul the marriage between Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black and Rodolphus Lestrange due to a breach in the marriage contract that made an heir a requirement by the fifth year of marriage. I reclaim the dowry of 75,000 galleons. I also cast Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black from the House of Black for going against her own family in war. I claim all of her Black related vaults, amounting to 678,098 galleons 15 sickles and 21 kunts. Henceforth she shall be known as Bellatrix no-name. So mote it be.”

There was a third flash of light and Narcissa couldn’t help grimacing at the idea that what just happened to her sister could well have happened to her if she had not made her move. Finally, Sirius turned to her.

“Narcissa, what do you wish to claim back from Lucius?”

“Only my wardrobe and personal belongings, which I have. He can keep everything else.”

“As you wish. I, Lord Sirius Orion Black, do annul the marriage between Narcissa Malfoy nee Black and Lucius Malfoy because the man in question did force a Black to go against her family in war. I reclaim the dowry of 100,000 galleons and her son, Draco Malfoy. Henceforth they shall be known at Narcissa Black and Draco Black. So mote it be.”

There was a small flash and a silver ring (her Lady Malfoy ring, as Draco had been taught) disappeared from her finger.

“Will there be anything else, Lord Black?”

“Yes, one more thing. I wish to name a new heir.” Everyone looked at Sirius in surprise, they all knew that his current heir was Harry, “I, Lord Sirius Orion Black, do name my heir to be Draco Black, so mote it be.”

Once again there was a small flash of light and Draco was in shock.

“Lord Black?” he asked.

“Call me Sirius, please.”

“Sirius then, why do you want me to be your heir?”

“Harry and I decided that you have a talent on politics that shouldn't be wasted. What would the point of all your training be if you didn't become a Lord?”

Draco bowed to Sirius and smiled to himself; he had found a good friend in Harry, just as Hermione said he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that! You've read nearly 120,000 words now!  
> Thank you for sticking around that long :)  
> The first chapter of the next work is already up, so you can just go ahead and read that now...


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